2 Chronicles 9

1 And the queen of Sheba has heard of the fame of Solomon, and comes to Jerusalem to try Solomon with acute sayings, with a very great company, and camels carrying spices and gold in abundance, and precious stone; and she comes to Solomon, and speaks with him all that has been with her heart, 2 and Solomon declares all her matters to her, and there has not been hid a thing from Solomon that he has not declared to her. 3 And the queen of Sheba sees the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he has built, 4 and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the standing of his ministers, and their clothing, and his stewards, and their clothing, and his burnt-offering that he offered up in the house of YHWH, and there has not been anymore spirit in her. 5 And she says to the king, “The word is true that I heard in my land concerning your matters and concerning your wisdom, 6 and I have given no credence to their words until I have come and my eyes see, and behold, there has not been declared to me the half of the abundance of your wisdom—you have added to the report that I heard. 7 O the blessedness of your men, and the blessedness of your servants—these—who are standing before you continually, and hearing your wisdom. 8 Let your God YHWH be blessed who has delighted in you to put you on His throne for king for your God YHWH; in the love of your God to Israel, to establish it to a distant age, He has put you over them for king, to do judgment and righteousness.” 9 And she gives to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stone; and there has not been any such spice as the queen of Sheba has given to King Solomon. 10 And also, servants of Huram, and servants of Solomon, who brought in gold from Ophir, have brought in algum-trees and precious stone. 11 And the king makes the algum-trees into staircases for the house of YHWH, and for the house of the king, and harps and psalteries for singers; and there have been none seen like these before in the land of Judah. 12 And King Solomon has given to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which she had brought to the king, and she turns and goes to her land, she and her servants. 13 And the weight of the gold that is coming to Solomon in one year is six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14 apart from what the tourists and the merchants are bringing in; and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the land, are bringing in gold and silver to Solomon. 15 And King Solomon makes two hundred bucklers of alloyed gold—he causes six hundred shekels of alloyed gold to go up on the one buckler; 16 and three hundred shields of alloyed gold—he causes three hundred shekels of gold to go up on the one shield, and the king puts them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 17 And the king makes a great throne of ivory, and overlays it with pure gold; 18 and six steps are to the throne, and a footstool of gold, and they are fastened to the throne; and places for hands are on this side and on that side on the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands, 19 and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps on this side and on that side: it has not been made so for any kingdom. 20 And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon are of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon are of refined gold—silver is not reckoned in the days of Solomon for anything; 21 for ships of the king are going to Tarshish with servants of Huram: once in three years the ships of Tarshish come carrying gold, and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks *. 22 And King Solomon becomes greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom; 23 and all the kings of the earth are seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God has put in his heart, 24 and they are each bringing in his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. 25 And there are four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen for Solomon, and he placed them in cities of the chariot, and with the king in Jerusalem. 26 And he is ruling over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27 And the king makes the silver in Jerusalem as stones, and he has made the cedars as sycamores that are in the low country, for abundance, 28 and they are bringing out horses from Egypt to Solomon, and from all the lands. 29 And the rest of the matters of Solomon, the first and the last, are they not written beside the matters of Nathan the prophet, and beside the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and with the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat? 30 And Solomon reigns in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years, 31 and Solomon lies with his fathers, and they bury him in the city of his father David, and his son Rehoboam reigns in his stead.


Next: Chapter 10

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