1 Kings 10:14–28

SOLOMON’S WEALTH

¹⁴The weight^d of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons,^{A 15}besides what came from merchants,^e traders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.^f

¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds^B of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; nearly four pounds^C of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.^g

¹⁸The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. ¹⁹The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

²¹All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon^h were pure gold.ⁱ There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time, ²²for the king had ships of Tarshish^j at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^Dk

²³King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.^{l 24}The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.^{m 25}Every man would bring his annual tribute: items^E of silver and gold, clothing, weapons,^F spices, and horses and mules.ⁿ

²⁶Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen^o and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.^{p 27}The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones,^q and he made cedar^r as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. ²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue.^G The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price.^s