1 Kings 10

CHAPTER 10

The Queen of Sheba

^1aNow the ^bqueen of ^cSheba heard the report about Solomon concerning the name of Yahweh. So she came ^dto test him with riddles.

²She came to Jerusalem with a very glorious retinue, with camels ^acarrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke to him about all that was in her heart.

³And Solomon declared to her the answer to all her matters; there was not a matter which was hidden from the king which he did not declare to her.

⁴Then the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

⁵the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the disposition of his attendants and their attire, his cupbearers, and ¹his stairway by which he went up to the house of Yahweh, so that there was no more spirit in her.

⁶Then she said to the king, “The word is true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁷“Nevertheless I did not believe those words, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not declared to me. You exceed, in wisdom and prosperity, the report which I heard.

⁸“How ^ablessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.

⁹“^aBlessed be Yahweh your God who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel; ^bbecause Yahweh loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, ^cto do justice and righteousness.”

^10aThen she gave the king ¹120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

^11aAlso, the ships of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones.

^12aAnd the king made of the almug trees supports for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again nor have they been seen to this day.

¹³Thus King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she asked, besides what he gave her according to ¹his royal bounty. Then she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Riches and Wisdom

^14aNow the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁵besides that from the traders and the ¹wares of the merchants and all the kings of the ^aArabs and the governors of the country.

^16aAnd King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ¹using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield.

¹⁷And he made ^a300 shields of beaten gold, ¹using ²three minas of gold on each shield, and ^bthe king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸Moreover, the king made a great throne of ^aivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

¹⁹There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and ¹arms ²on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ³arms.

²⁰Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for all the other kingdoms.

²¹Now all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered ¹valuable in the days of Solomon.

²²For ^athe king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

^23aSo King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

²⁴And all the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, ^ato hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

^25aAnd they brought every man his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, a set amount year by year.

^26aAnd Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and ¹stationed them in the ^bchariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

^27aThe king also made silver as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ¹Shephelah.

^28aSolomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue; the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price.

²⁹And a chariot ¹was imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and ²by the same means they exported them ^ato all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.