The visit of the queen of Sheba
10
📚And when the queen 📖 of Sheba 📖 heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD 📖, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 📚And she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices, and very much gold and precious stones. And when she had come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart. 3 📚And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king, which he did not tell her. 4 📚And when the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, 5 📚and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.6 📚And she said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. 7 📚However I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes saw it; and, look, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which I heard. 8 📚Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and who hear your wisdom. 9 📚Blessed be the LORD 📖 your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he made you king, to maintain judgment and justice”.
10 📚And she gave the King a hundred and twenty talents 📖 of gold, and a very large amount of spices, and precious stones; such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon never again came in.
11 📚And also the fleet of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a great quantity of almug trees, and precious stones. 12 📚And with the almug trees the king made pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, also harps and lyres for singers. No such almug trees came in again, or have been seen to this day.
13 📚And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
Solomon’s wealth
14 📚Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,
10:14 This was a violation of Deut 17:17. Six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold is more than 22 metric tons (more than 22,000 kilograms).⚜
15 📚beside what he had from the merchants, and of the trade of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
16 📚And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels 📖 of gold went into one shield. 17 📚And he made three hundred small shields of beaten gold. Three minas 📖 of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 📚Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back, and there were armrests on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. 20 📚And twelve lions stood there on one side and on the other on the six steps. Nothing like it was made in any kingdom. 21 📚And 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 were of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 22 📚For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once in three years the ships of Tarshish came in, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
23 📚So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
10:23 Did all this splendor, wealth, and wisdom make Solomon a happy man? See Eccl 1:2, 12-14, 18; 2:9-11. Did these things make the people of Israel happy? Not at all. See 1 Kings 12:1-4.⚜
24 📚And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
10:24 Verses 1,9.⚜
25 📚And each one of them brought his present: vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.
26 📚And Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 📚And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowlands. 28 📚And Solomon had horses brought from Egypt, and linen yarn. The king’s merchants obtained the linen yarn at a price. 29 📚And a chariot was imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels 📖 of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria."
10:29 Israel became a center for trade between peoples in the south and in the north.⚜