2 Chronicles 8–9

Chapter 8

Solomon’s Activities and Accomplishments

^1aNow it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord 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 captured it.

⁴He 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 that Solomon had, and all the cities for ¹his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ²under his rule.

^7aAll of 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 descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, ^athem Solomon raised as forced laborers to this day.

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

¹⁰These were the chief ¹officers of King Solomon, two hundred and fifty 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 dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because ¹the places are holy where the ark of the Lord has entered.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on ^athe altar of the Lord 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.

¹⁴Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed ^athe divisions of the priests for their service, and ^bthe Levites for their duties of praise and ministering 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 depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the storehouses.

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

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

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

Chapter 9

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

^1aNow when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. She had a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was on her heart.

²Solomon ¹answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not ²explain to her.

³When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built,

⁴the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ¹his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, she was breathless.

⁵Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁶“Nevertheless I did not believe their reports until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You surpass the report that I heard.

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

⁸“Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, ^asetting you on His throne as king for the Lord your God; ^bbecause your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty 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.

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

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

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

Solomon’s Wealth and Power

^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.

¹⁵King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ¹using 600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield.

¹⁶He made 300 shields of beaten gold, ¹using three hundred 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.

¹⁸There 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 arms.

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

²⁰All 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 bringing 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.

^24aThey brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.

²⁵Now 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.

^26aHe was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.

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

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

^29aNow the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, ^bare they not written in the ¹records 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?

^30aSolomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel.

Death of Solomon

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