1 Kings 10:1-29
10 * And the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon in the fame of Jehovah, and came to test him with problems.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with an immense retinue, camels carrying spices and a vast quantity of gold, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon and said to him whatever she had in mind to say,
3 and Solomon told her all her points; there was not a point of which the king was ignorant and did not tell her.
4 And the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house he had built,
5 ** and the food that came to his table, and the order in which his officers sat and his attendants stood, and the attendants’ costumes, and his drinks, and his burnt-offering that he used to offer in Jehovah’s house, and she had no spirit left in her;
6 and she said to the king “It was a true word that I heard in my own country about your state and your wisdom;
7 and I did not believe the talk till I came and saw with my own eyes, and found that I had not been told half: in wisdom and prosperity you outdo the report I had heard.
8 Happy are your wives, happy these officers of yours who stand before you always, who hear your wisdom.
9 Jehovah your God be blessed, who was pleased with you for setting on the throne of Israel; it was in an eternal love of Jehovah’s for Israel that he made you king to do justice and right.”
10 And she gave the king sixteen thousand pounds of gold, and spices in great quantity, and precious stones; there never again came spices in such quantity as that stock that the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
11 * (And Hiram’s ships too, that carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir almug wood in great quantity, and precious stones;
12 and the king made the almug wood into furniture for Jehovah’s house and the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; almug wood never came like that, nor was seen, to this day.)
13 And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything which pleased her that she asked for, besides what he gave her in accordance with King Solomon’s custom; and she turned back and went to her own country, she and her officers.
14 And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was eighty-seven thousand six hundred and forty pounds, gold,
15 * besides the mulcts on travelers and the profits of traders and of all the kings of the frontier tribes and the viceroys of the country.
16 And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold, three hundred ounces of gold going on one shield,
17 and three hundred beaten gold bucklers, a hundred and fifty ounces of gold going on one buckler; and the king put them in the Forest-of-Lebanon house.
18 And the king made a great ivory throne and gilded it with refined gold;
19 there were six steps to the throne, and the throne had calves’ heads at the back, and arms on each side of the seat, and two standing lions beside the arms,
20 and twelve standing lions on the six steps, one each side; nothing of the sort had been made for any kingdom.
21 And all Solomon’s drinking-vessels were gold, and all the utensils of the Forest-of-Lebanon house were solid gold; no silver, it was not thought anything of in Solomon’s days.
22 * For the king had Spain-ships at sea with Hiram’s ships: once in three years the Spain-ships came in, carrying gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
23 And Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom;
24 * and all the earth betook themselves to Solomon to listen to his wisdom which God had put into his heart,
25 and brought their presents man by man, articles of silver and of gold and garments and arms and spices, ponies and mules, a yearly supply.
26 And Solomon amassed chariots and horses, and had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he quartered in the chariot cities and at Jerusalem with the king.
27 And the king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as sycamores in the lowlands.
28 ** And Solomon’s sources of supply for ponies were Egypt and Kue; the king’s dealers had them from Kue on commission,
29 and a chariot used to come up out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a pony for a hundred and fifty; and they were similarly imported through them for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.
Footnotes
^ 10:1 Var. omits in the fame of Jehovah Conj. of Solomon and of the house Solomon had built for Jehovah’s name, and came
^ 10:5 Lit. their costumes Var. his costume
^ 10:5 (drinks) Or cupbearers
^ 10:11 (almug) Unc.
^ 10:15 (first words) Unc.; susp.
^ 10:22 Conj. a Spain-ship . . . the Spain-ship
^ 10:24 Var. Jehovah had put
^ 10:28-29 (Egypt) Conj. Musri
^ 10:28 (on commission) Unc.
