2 Chronicles 8–9

And ^ait came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house, ²that the cities which Huram had ^brestored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. ³And Solomon went to ^cHamath-^dzobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵Also he built ^eBeth-horon the upper, and ^eBeth-horon the nether, fenced cities, ^fwith walls, gates, and bars; ⁶and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. ⁷As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, ⁸but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. ⁹But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰And these were the chief of king Solomon’s officers, even ^gtwo hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people. ¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come.

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, ^hwhich he had built before the porch, ¹³even ⁱafter a certain rate ^kevery day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, ^lon the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, ^mthree times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, ⁿthe courses of the priests to their service, and ^othe Levites to their ^pcharges, to praise and minister before the priests, ⁱas the duty of every day required: the ^qporters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David ^rthe man of God commanded. ¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. ¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was perfected.

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and ^sfifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

IX.And ^awhen the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ²And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. ³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: ⁶howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. ⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on ^bhis throne, to be king for the Lord thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ¹⁰And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the Lord, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which ^cshe had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

^13dNow the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ¹⁴besides that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target. ¹⁶And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: ^ethree hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with ^fpure gold. ¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays: ¹⁹and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was ^gnot any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²²And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ²⁴And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, ^hharness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵ⁱAnd Solomon had ^kfour thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ^26lAnd he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in ^mthe low plains in abundance. ²⁸And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹ⁿNow the rest of the acts of Solomon, ^ofirst and last, are they not written in the book of ^pNathan the prophet, and in the ^qprophecy of ^rAhijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^sIddo the ^tseer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

X.