The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Solomon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wise” referring to 1 Kings 3:12. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 8:2:
Kupsabiny: “he renewed the cities that Hiram had given to him and he migrated (some) people of Israel to live there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Solomon rebuilt the cities Hiram gave him and settled Israelites there.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “he again built/[lit. caused-to-stand] the towns that Hiram had-given him and had-settled- the Israelinhon -in.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then his workers rebuilt the cities that King Hiram had given back to Solomon, and Solomon sent Israelis to live in those cities.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Solomon rebuilt the cities which Huram had given to him: Moffatt has taken the Hebrew verb for rebuilt to mean “fortified.” New American Bible and An American Translation are similar with “built up.” In any case, the cities apparently already existed since they were given to Solomon. For Huram, who was the king of Tyre, see the comments on 1 Chr 14.1 and 2 Chr 2.3. Since this is the first mention of Huram in this chapter, he may be identified more fully as “King Hiram” (Good News Translation) or “King Hiram of Tyre” (Bible en français courant). This is all the more important to avoid confusion between this king of Tyre and the Temple craftsman of the same name (see 2 Chr 2.13; 4.11, 16). The Hebrew text is not consistent in the spelling of the names for these two people. Good News Translation has attempted to eliminate the possible confusion by consistently using the spelling “Hiram” for the king and “Huram” for the craftsman. This may be a good model to follow in other languages as well. According to 1 Kgs 9.11-13, it was Solomon who had given cities to Hiram, which is just the opposite of what is said here in 2 Chronicles.
And settled the people of Israel in them: This clause probably means simply that Solomon encouraged some Israelites to move to these cities and not that he forced them against their wills. It may be better in some languages to say “and Solomon sent Israelites to live in them” (New Century Version).
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 .
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