Who Knows?

Solomon turned his attention to rebuilding the towns that King Hiram had given him, and he settled Israelites in them. [2 Chronicles 8.2]

This is not a little bit confusing!  I thought the OYCB reading yesterday said Solomon gave cities to Hiram?

As the translation comes across, it is difficult to determine who gave whom what!  It appears to me that Solomon paid Hiram (in addition to all the food and provisions) with some towns.  It furthermore appears that Hiram basically rejected those 'payment' towns as worthless.  There was an exchange of 9000 pounds of gold - it would seem most likely to me that that exchange was from Solomon to Hiram (instead of the other way around as the translation puts it).  Then in today's reading, it would make sense that the towns Solomon rebuilt (obviously in need of "rebuilding") were the towns that Hiram rejected and gave back to Solomon.

Who knows?

Father, thank You for the Bible and the Message it conveys to us today.  Help us to accurately understand!