< 2 Chronicles 9 >
1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with riddles at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and with camels bearing spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was on her heart.
2 And Solomon solved for her all her questions; and there was nothing hidden from Solomon which he did not tell her.
3 And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
4 And the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-bearers, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord: there was no more spirit in her.
5 And she said to the king, The truth [only] was the word that I heard in my own land of thy acts, and of thy wisdom.
6 And I believed not in their words, until I came, and my eyes saw [all]; and, behold, the one-half of the greatness of thy wisdom hath not been told me: thou excellest the report which I have heard.
7 Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand before thee continually, and hear thy wisdom.
8 Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath had delight in thee to place thee on his throne, as a king for the Lord thy God; because thy God loved Israel, to sustain them for ever, therefore hath he placed thee over them as king, to exercise justice and righteousness.
9 And she gave to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones: and there never were any such spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
10 And also the servants of Churam, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-trees and precious stones.
11 And the king made of the sandal-trees steps for the house of the Lord, and for the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were never seen the like of them before in the land of Judah.
12 And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her pleasure, whatsoever she asked, beside [a return for] that which she had brought unto the king. And she turned about and went away to her own country, she and her servants.
13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty and six talents of gold;
14 Besides what the travelling tradesmen and the merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold he used for each one target.
16 And [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels of gold he used for each one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
17 The king also made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
18 And the throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, fastened into the throne; and there were arms on either side, on the place of the seat; and two lions stood beside the arms;
19 And twelve lions stood there upon the six steps on both sides: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
20 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: no silver was valued in the days of Solomon at the least.
21 For the king's ships went to Tharshish with the servants of Churam; once in three years did the Tharshish-ships use to come home laden with gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
22 And king Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom.
23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
24 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, armor, and spices, horses, and mules; [and] so year by year.
25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he quartered in the cities for chariots, and near the king at Jerusalem.
26 And he was ruling over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and as far as the boundary of Egypt.
27 And the king rendered silver in Jerusalem like stones, and the cedar-trees he rendered like the sycamore-trees that are in the lowlands, for abundance.
28 And men were bringing out horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.
29 And the remainder of the acts of Solomon, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Achiyah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Ye'do the seer concerning Jerobo'am the son of Nebat.
30 And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father: and Rehobo'am his son became king in his stead.
