AND when the
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with
hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare
spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to
Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
2 And Solomon
told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he
told her not.
3 And when the
queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the
house that he had built,
4 And the meat of
his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his
ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, 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, It was a true report which I
heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
6 Howbeit I
believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and,
behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for
thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
7 Happy are
thy men, and happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
8 Blessed be the
LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be
king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for
ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.
9 And she gave
the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of
spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice
as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.
10 And the
servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from
Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.
11 And the king
made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the
king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such
seen before in the land of Judah.
12 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire,
whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king.
So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.
13 Now the weight
of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six
talents of gold;
14 Beside that
which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and
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 went to one target.
16 And three
hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three
hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the
house of the forest of Lebanon.
17 Moreover the
king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
18 And there
were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were
fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two
lions standing by the stays:
19 And twelve
lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There
was not the like made in any kingdom.
20 And all the
drinking vessels of king Solomon 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 any thing accounted of in
the days of Solomon.
21 For the king's
ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came
the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
22 And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and
wisdom.
23 And all the
kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.
24 And they
brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and
raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
25 And Solomon had
four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen;
whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
26 And he reigned
over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to
the border of Egypt.
27 And the king
made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he
as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.
28 And they
brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.
29 Now the rest of
the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of
Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the
visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
30 And Solomon
reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31 And Solomon
slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and
Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.