He likewise provided cities for himself, and flocks and herds in abundance: Likewise translates the common Hebrew conjunction, which here introduces more signs of material wealth in addition to the great abundance already spoken of in the previous verse. So Good News Translation begins this verse with “Besides all this.” He … provided cities for himself is literally “he made cities for himself.” But this clause will be more naturally translated “he had cities built for himself,” showing that others did the actual work. It is not clear exactly what these words mean. Were the cities that the King Hezekiah had built considered his own personal fiefdom, that is, cities under his complete and total control? Most likely, they refer to cities lying on the border of his kingdom which helped control access into the kingdom.

Some scholars have suggested that the word cities here refers to watchtowers where shepherds could watch over the flocks, but this interpretation is now largely rejected. Other scholars have suggested that the Hebrew did not originally have the word cities and that a scribe repeated the word for “flocks” from the end of the previous verse but changed the spelling slightly to make the Hebrew noun for cities. Following this suggested correction of the text, Revised English Bible renders the first sentence of this verse as “He amassed a great many flocks and herds.” Other scholars think that the Hebrew originally had the word for “donkeys,” which is similar in spelling to the Hebrew word for “cities.” This is the basis for the Bible de Jérusalem rendering “He provided himself with donkeys and a big herd of large and small livestock.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to “cities,” but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even deal with this as a textual problem since all of the textual evidence supports the reading in the Masoretic Text. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that these cities were small military stations that were built to protect the nearby shepherds from robbing bands of nomads.

For God had given him very great possessions: Hezekiah built the cities and owned many animals because God made him very rich.

A model for this verse is:

• He also had cities built for himself, and had acquired vast flocks and herds, because God had given him great wealth.

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 .