1 Kings 10
1 The queen [who ruled the] Sheba [area] heard that Yahweh had caused Solomon to become famous, so she traveled to Jerusalem to ask him questions that were difficult [to answer].
When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame concerning the name of Yahweh, she came to test him with hard questions.
2 She came with a large group of wealthy/influential people, and she brought camels that were loaded with spices, and valuable gems, and a lot of gold. When she met Solomon, she asked him questions about all the topics/things in which she was interested.
She came to Jerusalem with a very long caravan, with camels loaded with spices, much gold, and many precious gemstones. When she arrived, she told Solomon all that was in her heart.
3 Solomon answered all her questions. He explained everything that she asked about, even things that were very difficult.
Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing she asked that the king did not answer.
4 The queen realized that Solomon was very wise. She saw his palace;
When the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon's wisdom, the palace that he had built,
5 she saw the food that was served on his table [every day]; she saw where his officials lived (OR, how his officials were seated at the table), their uniforms, the servants who served the food and wine, and the sacrifices that he took to the temple to be offered. She was extremely amazed.
the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the work of his servants and their clothing, also his cupbearers, and the manner in which he offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh, there was no more breath in her.
6 She said to King Solomon, “Everything that I heard in my own country about you and about how wise you are is true!
She said to the king, “It is true, the report that I heard in my own land of your words and your wisdom.
7 But I did not believe it was true until I came here and saw it myself. But really, what they told me is only half [of what they could have told me about you]. You are extremely wise and rich, more than what people told me.
I did not believe what I heard until I came here, and now my eyes have seen it. Not half was told me about your wisdom and wealth! You have exceeded the fame that I heard about.
8 Your wives are very fortunate! Your officials who are constantly standing in front of you and listening to the wise things that you say are also fortunate!
How blessed are your wives, and how blessed are your servants who constantly stand before you, because they hear your wisdom.
9 Praise Yahweh, your God, who has shown that he is pleased with you by causing you to become the king of Israel! God has always loved the Israeli people, and therefore he has appointed you to be their king, in order that you will rule them fairly and righteously.”
May Yahweh your God be praised, who has taken pleasure in you, who placed you on the throne of Israel. Because Yahweh loved Israel forever, he has made you king, for you to do justice and righteousness!”
10 Then the queen gave to the king [the things that she had brought. She gave him] almost five tons of gold and a large amount of spices and valuable gems. Never again did King Solomon receive more spices than the queen gave him at that time.
She gave the king 120 talents of gold and a large amount of spices and precious stones. No greater amount of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon was ever given to him again.
11 In the ships that belonged to King Hiram, in which they had previously brought gold from Ophir, they also brought a large amount of juniper wood and gems/valuable stones.
The fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large amount of almug wood and precious stones.
12 King Solomon told his workers to use that wood to make railings/supports in the temple of Yahweh and in the king’s palace and also to make harps and lyres for the (musicians/men who played musical instruments). That wood was the largest amount of (OR, the finest) wood that had ever been seen [in Israel]. And no one since then has ever seen so much wood of that kind.
The king made almug wood pillars for the temple of Yahweh and for the king's palace, and harps and lyres for the singers. No such quantity of almug wood has ever come or been seen again to this day.
13 King Solomon gave to the queen from Sheba everything that she wanted. He gave her those gifts in addition to the gifts that he always gave [to other rulers who visited him]. Then she and the people who came with her returned to her own land.
King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba everything she wished for, whatever she asked, in addition to what Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she returned to her own land with her servants.
14 Each year there was brought to Solomon a total of 25 tons of gold.
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
15 That was in addition to [the taxes] paid to him by the merchants and traders, and the annual taxes paid by the kings of Arabia and by the governors of [the regions in] Israel.
besides the gold that the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors in the country also brought gold and silver to Solomon.
16 King Solomon’s workers [took this] gold and hammered it into thin sheets and covered 200 large shields with those thin sheets of gold; they put (almost 15 pounds/more than 6 kg.) of gold on each shield.
King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of gold went into each one.
17 His workers made 300 smaller shields. They covered each of them with (almost 4 pounds/1.5 kg.) of gold. Then the king put those shields in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
He also made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three minas of gold went into each shield; the king put them into the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 His workers also made for him a large throne. [Part of it was] covered with (ivory [decorations made from)] tusks of elephants and [part of it was covered] with very fine gold.
Then the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.
19 There were six steps in front of the throne. There was a statue of a lion on both sides of each step. So altogether there were twelve statues of lions. The back of the throne was rounded at the top. At each side of the throne there was an armrest, and alongside each armrest there was a small statue of a lion. No throne like that had ever existed in any other kingdom.
There were six steps to the throne, and the back of it had a rounded top. There were armrests on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
Twelve lions stood on the steps, one on each side of each of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom.
21 All of Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the various dishes in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were made of gold. They did not make things from silver, because during the years that Solomon [ruled], silver was not considered to be valuable.
All King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the drinking cups in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were silver, because silver was not considered valuable in Solomon's days.
22 The king had a (fleet/large number) of ships that sailed with the ships that King Hiram owned. Every three years the ships returned [from the places to which they had sailed], bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and baboons (OR, peacocks).
The king had at sea a fleet of oceangoing ships, along with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet brought gold, silver, and ivory, as well as apes and baboons.
23 King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king.
So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.
24 People from all over the world wanted to come and listen to the wise things that Solomon said, things that God had put into his mind.
All the earth sought the presence of Solomon in order to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 All the people who came to him brought presents: They brought things made from silver or gold, or robes, or weapons (OR, myrrh), or spices, or horses, or mules. The people continued to do this every year.
Those who visited brought tribute, vessels of silver and of gold, and clothes, armor, and spices, as well as horses and mules, year after year.
26 Solomon acquired 1,400 chariots and 12,000 men who rode [on the horses] (OR, [in the chariots]). Solomon put some of them in Jerusalem and some of them in other cities where he kept his chariots.
Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with himself in Jerusalem.
27 During the years that Solomon was king, silver became as common in Jerusalem as stones; and [lumber from] cedar trees in the foothills of Judah was as plentiful as [lumber from] fig trees.
The king had silver in Jerusalem, as much as the stones on the ground. He made cedar wood to be as abundant as the sycamore fig trees that are in the lowlands.
28 Solomon’s agents bought horses and supervised the men who brought them into Israel from the areas of Musri and Cilicia [that were famous for breeding horses].
The horses that belonged to Solomon were imported from Egypt, and Kue and the king's merchants purchased them from Kue.
29 In Musri they bought chariots and horses; they paid 600 pieces of silver for each chariot and 150 pieces of silver for each horse. They brought them to Israel. Then they sold many of them to the kings of the Heth people-group and the kings of Syria.
Chariots were purchased out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver each, and horses for 150 shekels each. Many of these were then sold to all the kings of the Hittites and Aram.
