2 Chronicles 8–9

CHAPTER 8

Solomon Builds Cities

^1aNow it happened at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house

²that he built the cities which Huram had given to ¹him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overpowered it.

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath.

⁵He also built upper ^aBeth-horon and lower Beth-horon, ^bfortified cities with walls, gates and bars;

⁶and Baalath and all the storage cities which Solomon had, and all the cities for ¹his chariots, and the cities for ²his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ³under his rule.

^7aAs for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸namely, from their sons who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not consumed, ^afrom them Solomon raised up forced laborers to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his chief captains and his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief ¹deputies of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

^11aThen Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because ¹the places are holy where the ark of Yahweh has entered.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on ^athe altar of Yahweh which he had built before the porch;

¹³and ^adid so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^baccording to the commandment of Moses, for ^cthe sabbaths, ^dthe new moons and the ^ethree annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴And according to the judgment of his father David, he caused ^athe divisions of the priests to stand for their service, and ^bthe Levites for their responsibilities to praise and minister before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^cthe gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for ^dDavid the man of God had so commanded.

¹⁵And they did not turn away from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out ¹from the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh, and until it was completed. So the house of Yahweh was finished.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to ^aEzion-geber and to ^bEloth on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram by the hand of his servants sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and ^atook from there ¹450 talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.

CHAPTER 9

The Queen of Sheba

^1aNow the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon. So she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very glorious retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

²And Solomon declared to her the answer to all her matters; and not a matter was hidden from Solomon which he did not declare to her.

³Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built,

⁴the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the disposition of his attendants and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ¹his stairway by which he went up to the house of Yahweh, so that there was no more spirit in her.

⁵Then she said to the king, “The word is true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁶“Nevertheless I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not declared to me. You exceed the report which I heard.

⁷“How ¹blessed are your men, how ²blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.

⁸“Blessed be Yahweh your God who delighted in you, ^ato set you on His throne as king for Yahweh your God; ^bbecause your God loved Israel to cause them to stand forever, therefore He gave you as king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king ¹120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. There had never been spice like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰Also, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, ^awho brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹And the king made of the algum trees steps for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²Thus King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she asked, besides a return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned around and went to her own land together with her servants.

Solomon’s Riches and Wisdom

^13aNow the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁴besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all ^athe kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ¹using ²600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield.

¹⁶And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, ¹using ²300 shekels of gold on each 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 pure gold.

¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and ¹arms ²on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ³arms.

¹⁹Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

²⁰Now 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; silver was not considered ¹valuable in the days of Solomon.

^21aFor the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

^22aSo King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

^24aAnd they brought every man his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, a set amount year by year.

²⁵And Solomon had ^a4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

^26aAnd he was the ruler over all the kings from the ¹River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

^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.

^28aAnd they were importing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

The Death of Solomon

^29aNow the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, ^bare they not written in the ¹chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ²Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

^30aThus Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel.

³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^athe city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam became king in his place.