1 Kings 10:14–29

Solomon’s Splendor

10:14–29pp—2Ch 1:14–17; 9:13–28

¹⁴The weight of the gold^b that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,^{e 15}not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields^c of hammered gold; six hundred shekels^f of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas^g of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.^d

¹⁸Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. ¹⁹The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. ²⁰Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. ²¹All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold.^e Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. ²²The king had a fleet of trading ships^hf at sea along with the ships^g of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

²³King Solomon was greater in riches^h and wisdomⁱ than all the other kings of the earth. ²⁴The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom^j God had put in his heart. ²⁵Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift^k—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

²⁶Solomon accumulated chariots and horses;^l he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,ⁱ which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. ²⁷The king made silver as common^m in Jerusalem as stones,ⁿ and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig^o trees in the foothills. ²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue^j—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. ²⁹They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.^k They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites^p and of the Arameans.