Bible Time

¹AND when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon and the name of Yahvah, she came to try him out with proverbs. ²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she tested him with all that was in her heart. ³And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he did not tell her. ⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the house that he had built ⁵And the food of his table and the order in which his servants sat and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their clothing and his burnt offerings which he offered in the house of Yahvah, she was greatly overcome. ⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your sayings and of your wisdom. ⁷Nevertheless, I did not believe the words until I came, and my own eyes had seen it; and look, even 1/2 was not told me; your wisdom and prosperity exceed the report which I heard. ⁸Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. ⁹Blessed be Yahvah your God, who has delighted in you and has set you on the throne of Israel; because Yahvah loved Israel forever, therefore he has made you king, to do judgment and justice. ¹⁰And she gave King Solomon 120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones; and there did not come any longer such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹¹And the ships of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, also brought in from Ophir a great amount of sandalwood and precious stones. ¹²And the king made of the sandalwood ornaments for the house of Yahvah and for the king's house, also harps and psalteries for singers; never before nor since came such sandalwood to this day. ¹³And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, and whatever she asked for, besides that which he gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents, ¹⁵Besides that which came from the craftsmen and from the traffic of merchants and from all the kings of the Arabs and from the governors of the land. ¹⁶And King Solomon made 200 shields of pure gold; 600 minas of gold went into each shield; ¹⁷And 300 round shields of pure gold; and 300 minas went into each shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with gold from Ophir. ¹⁹The throne had 6 steps, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were arm rests on either side at the place of the seat, and 2 lions stood on either side of the seat. ²⁰And 12 lions stood there, one on each side of the 6 steps; there was not one like it in any kingdom. ²¹And 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; silver was counted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had at sea a navy of ships of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every 3 years came the navy from Tarshish, bringing silver and gold, ivory, apes and peacocks. ²³So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴And all the kings of the earth sought to see the face of Solomon and to hear the wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵And they brought every man his present, vessels of gold and vessels of silver, garments, armor, spices, horses, fancy chariots, and mules, year by year. ²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he left some of the chariots in the cities and kept others with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷And King Solomon made silver to be as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore trees that are on the plain. ²⁸And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and the king's merchants received a commission on the goods they bought. ²⁹And a chariot was delivered from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and so for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram, they brought many gifts with their own hands.