2 Chronicles 8–9

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

8It ^acame to pass at the end of ^btwenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ²that the cities which ¹Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. ³And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. ^4cHe also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in ^dHamath. ⁵He built Upper Beth Horon and ^eLower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon ^fdesired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

^7gAll the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel—⁸that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. ⁹But Solomon did not make the children of Israel ²servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. ¹⁰And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: ^htwo hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹Now Solomon ⁱbrought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³according to the ^jdaily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^kthree appointed yearly ^lfeasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴And, according to the ³order of David his father, he appointed the ^mdivisions of the priests for their service, ⁿthe Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^ogatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^ptreasuries.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ⁴from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to ^qEzion Geber and ⁵Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. ^18rAnd Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^sOphir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon

9Now ^awhen the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ²So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for Solomon that he could not explain it to her. ³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁴the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his ^bcupbearers and their apparel, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

⁵Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶However I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame of which I heard. ⁷Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁸Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the Lord your God! Because your God has ^cloved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, ^dwho brought gold from Ophir, brought ¹algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made walkways of the ²algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Great Wealth

^13eThe weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴besides what the traveling merchants and traders brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield. ¹⁶He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; ³three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the ^fHouse of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne; there were ⁴armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ¹⁹Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

²⁰All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²¹For the king’s ships went to ^gTarshish with the servants of ⁵Hiram. Once every three years the ⁶merchant ships came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and ⁷monkeys.

²²So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put it in his heart. ²⁴Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, ^harmor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

²⁵Solomon ⁱhad four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

^26jSo he reigned over all the kings ^kfrom ⁸the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^27lThe king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees ^mas abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. ²⁸ⁿAnd they brought horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Death of Solomon

^29oNow the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of ^pAhijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^qIddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30rSolomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹Then Solomon ⁹rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.