Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 2:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition: “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Resident foreigners bear the building burden.”
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 2:17–18
Read 2 Chronicles 2:18 with 2:17–18. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Solomon numbers resident foreigners and assigns them as burden bearers, quarry workers, and overseers for the royal project.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Resident foreigners bear the building burden,” 2 Chronicles 2:18 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The labor allocation closes the diplomatic chapter by naming who carries the project's physical cost. The chapter's diplomatic and theological language ends by identifying resident foreigners who bear the building burden, a labor horizon later echoed when Israel asks Rehoboam to lighten Solomon's heavy service.
Read 2 Chronicles 2:17–18 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 2:17–18 forms the complete movement “Resident foreigners bear the building burden”: Solomon numbers resident foreigners and assigns them as burden bearers, quarry workers, and overseers for the royal project.
Verse 17. 17 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
Verse 18. 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.
Follow the Context
- Solomon numbers resident foreigners and assigns them as burden bearers, quarry workers, and overseers for the royal project.
- The labor allocation closes the diplomatic chapter by naming who carries the project's physical cost.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Chronicles 2:18 does not permit the wording “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. Religious purpose does not excuse coerced labor, ethnic hierarchy, unsafe work, or treating resident foreigners as disposable inputs.
What Remains True
Worship and wisdom remain accountable to covenant, labor, outsiders, resources, and God's freedom; sacred scale never makes royal power or a building immune from review. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Solomon numbers resident foreigners and assigns them as burden bearers, quarry workers, and overseers for the royal project. In 2 Chronicles 2:18, the concrete line “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to….” When worship, buildings, wealth, or leadership are involved, disclose labor and money, welcome outsiders without stigma, preserve covenant limits, and refuse to measure God's presence by scale or spectacle. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Solomon numbers resident foreigners and assigns them as burden bearers, quarry workers, and overseers for the royal project.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 2:18 assigns those foreigners to burdens, quarrying, and work supervision. Use 2:17–18, paraphrase “And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Chronicles 2:17–18 — Resident foreigners bear the building burdenSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Chronicles' categories, totals, and relation to Kings' labor notices remain debated; the text clearly marks unequal allocation even where legal status cannot be fully reconstructed.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Chronicles 2:17–18, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:17–18
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 2 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 2:17–18, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗