And Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon: All the assembly refers to all the leaders of Israel and their followers who had been called together by Solomon. Other ways of expressing this phrase include “all the assembled people” (Revised English Bible), “all the people who had come together” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), and “the whole community” (Moffatt). For the Hebrew word rendered high place (bamah), see the comments on 1 Chr 16.39. Sometimes this word refers to a hill or raised platform accessed by steps used for sacrifice, sometimes to a local place of worship, and sometimes to any place of worship other than the Temple in Jerusalem. Perhaps the best translation in English is “shrine” (Revised English Bible), “worship center” ( NET Bible), or “place of worship” (God’s Word). Gibeon was an important Levitical city in the territory of Benjamin (Josh 21.17) about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Jerusalem. This city was located at a strategic position at the crossroads of the central hill country.

For the tent of meeting of God … was there: The connector for introduces why Solomon went to the worship center at Gibeon. He did it because the Tabernacle made by Moses was located there (see 1 Chr 21.29). By going to the Tabernacle to offer sacrifices, Solomon was obeying the Law as found in Lev 17.8-9. In some languages this last half of the verse may be translated as one or two separate sentences (so Good News Translation). For the tent of meeting of God, see the comments on 1 Chr 6.32. The Hebrew phrase here may be rendered “God’s tent of meeting” or “the tent for meeting God” (Dillard; similarly NET Bible). In Hebrew the noun for God may modify either tent or meeting. Either is possible; some passages show that the tent is the place were God revealed himself to his people (Num 12.1-16), while other passages show that the Israelites thought of this tent as God’s tent (1 Kgs 2.28-30).

Which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness: The servant of the LORD is a title that expresses the faithfulness of Moses to the LORD. This phrase may be rendered “who was faithful to the LORD” or “who served the LORD.” The event mentioned in this clause took place in the distant past (see Exo 36.8-38), so Revised Standard Version says had made rather than simply “made.” In some languages it may be necessary to say “had constructed long before.” Languages that have a distant-past verb form will certainly use it here. For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness, see the comments on 1 Chr 12.8.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .