st Kings _Chapter 10

When the Queen of Sheba heard the fame that Solomon had gained in the name of the Lord, she came to question Solomon with perplexing words.

Many people followed her to Jerusalem, and camels carried spices, precious stones, and a lot of gold. When she came to see King Solomon, she spoke out everything she had in her heart to Solomon.

King Solomon answered all the questions she had asked, and there was not a word that he did not understand and could not answer.

When the Queen of Sheba saw Solomon’s great wisdom and the palace he had built,

The delicacies on the table were delicious, and the officials sat in rows, with their servants standing on either side, adorned with their clothing and the attire of the wine steward. When they saw him go up the steps of the temple of the Lord (or the burnt offering he offered in the temple of the Lord), they were amazed and God did not keep his guard.

And he said to the king, Truly, what I have heard about you and your wisdom in my own country is true.

I didn’t believe those words for now, and it wasn’t until I came to see them with my own eyes that I realized less than half of what people were telling me. Your wisdom and your blessings surpass the sound of the wind that I have heard.

Blessed are your courtiers, your servants who always stand before you and listen to your wise words.

Praise be to the Lord your God. He delights in you and makes you sit on the throne of Israel. Because he loves Israel forever, he has made you king to uphold justice and righteousness.

So the Queen of Sheba gave one hundred and twenty talents of gold and precious stones, as well as an abundance of spices, to King Solomon. The spices she gave to the king will no longer be so abundant in the future.

Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir, and also brought many sandalwood and precious stones from Ophir.

The king used sandalwood to make railings for the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and also made harps and lyres for the singers. No such sandalwood has ever entered the country again, and no one has ever seen it, until now.

King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desires and requests, and also gave her according to his own kindness. So the queen and her servants returned to their own country.

Solomon received a total of 666 talents of gold every year.

In addition, there were merchants, mixed race kings, and provincial governors who brought in gold. (In the second chapter of the ninth chapter and fourteenth verse of the dynasties, the mixed race is called the Arab.)

King Solomon used hammered gold to make two hundred shields, each with six hundred shekels of gold.

And he made three hundred shields with hammered gold, and three minas of gold were used for each shield, and they were placed in the palace of the forest of Lebanon.

The king made a throne out of ivory and wrapped it in pure gold.

The throne has six steps, with a round back and handrails on both sides. Two lions stand near the handrails.

There are twelve lions standing on the six steps, with two on each floor, one on the left and one on the right. No other country has done so.

All the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold. All the vessels in the palace of Lebanon are of pure gold. During the reign of Solomon, silver was nothing.

Because the king had ships of Tarshish sailing with Hiram’s ships once every three years, carrying gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

King Solomon’s wealth and wisdom surpass all the kings of the world.

All the kings of the world sought to see Solomon, to hear the wisdom that God had given him.

They each brought tribute items, including gold, silver, clothing, military equipment, spices, mules and horses, with a certain number every year.

Solomon gathered fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and placed them with the king in the chariot towns and Jerusalem.

The king made silver as abundant as stones in Jerusalem, and cedar as abundant as the sycamore trees in the plateau.

Solomon’s horses were brought from Egypt, bought by a group of king’s merchants at a fixed price.

The chariots bought from Egypt were priced at 600 shekels of silver per chariot and 150 shekels of horse per horse. The chariots and horses bought by the kings of Hittite and Aram were also bought by their hands at this value.