2 Chronicles 9
9
Visit of the Queen of Sheba
1When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She arrived with a large group of attendants and a great caravan of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels. When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. 2Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. 3When the queen of Sheba realized how wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built, 4she was overwhelmed. She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the cup-bearers and their robes, and the burnt offerings#9:4 As in Greek and Syriac versions (see also 1 Kgs 10:5); Hebrew reads and the ascent. Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord.
5She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements#9:5 Hebrew your words. and wisdom is true! 6I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. 7How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! 8Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. Because God loves Israel and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king over them so you can rule with justice and righteousness.”
9Then she gave the king a gift of 9,000 pounds#9:9 Hebrew 120 talents [4,000 kilograms]. of gold, great quantities of spices, and precious jewels. Never before had there been spices as fine as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10(In addition, the crews of Hiram and Solomon brought gold from Ophir, and they also brought red sandalwood#9:10 Hebrew algum wood (also in 9:11); perhaps a variant spelling of almug. Compare parallel text at 1 Kgs 10:11-12. and precious jewels. 11The king used the sandalwood to make steps#9:11 Or gateways. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. for the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and to construct lyres and harps for the musicians. Never before had such beautiful things been seen in Judah.)
12King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba whatever she asked for—gifts of greater value than the gifts she had given him. Then she and all her attendants returned to their own land.
Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor
13Each year Solomon received about 25 tons#9:13 Hebrew 666 talents [23 metric tons]. of gold. 14This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the provinces also brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 15 pounds.#9:15 Hebrew 600 [shekels] of hammered gold [6.8 kilograms]. 16He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 7-1/2 pounds.#9:16 Hebrew 300 [shekels] of gold [3.4 kilograms]. The king placed these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
17Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with pure gold. 18The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, and the figure of a lion stood on each side of the throne. 19There were also twelve other lions, one standing on each end of the six steps. No other throne in all the world could be compared with it!
20All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were solid gold, as were all the utensils in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. They were not made of silver, for silver was considered worthless in Solomon’s day!
21The king had a fleet of trading ships of Tarshish manned by the sailors sent by Hiram.#9:21a Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.#9:21b Or and baboons.
22So King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth. 23Kings from every nation came to consult him and to hear the wisdom God had given him. 24Year after year everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
25Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots, and he had 12,000 horses.#9:25 Or 12,000 charioteers. He stationed some of them in the chariot cities, and some near him in Jerusalem. 26He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River#9:26 Hebrew the river. in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south. 27The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stone. And valuable cedar timber was as common as the sycamore-fig trees that grow in the foothills of Judah.#9:27 Hebrew the Shephelah. 28Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt#9:28 Possibly Muzur, a district near Cilicia. and many other countries.
Summary of Solomon’s Reign
29The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Nathan the Prophet, and The Prophecy of Ahijah from Shiloh, and also in The Visions of Iddo the Seer, concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. 30Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 31When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.
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2 Chronicles 9: NLT
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2 Chronicles 9
9
1And the queen of Sheba hath heard of the fame of Solomon, and cometh in to try Solomon with acute sayings, to Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels bearing spices and gold in abundance, and precious stone; and she cometh in unto Solomon, and speaketh with him all that hath been with her heart,
2and Solomon declareth to her all her matters, and there hath not been hid a thing from Solomon that he hath not declared to her.
3And the queen of Sheba seeth the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he hath built,
4and 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, an his burnt-offering that he offered up in the house of Jehovah, and there hath not been any more spirit in her.
5And she saith unto the king, ‘True [is] the word that I heard in my land concerning thy matters and concerning thy wisdom,
6and I have given no credence to their words, till that I have come, and mine eyes see, and lo, there hath not been declared to me the half of the abundance of thy wisdom — thou hast added unto the report that I heard.
7‘O the happiness of thy men, and the happiness of thy servants — these — who are standing before thee continually, and hearing thy wisdom.
8Let Jehovah thy God be blessed who hath delighted in thee, to put thee on His throne for king for Jehovah thy God; in the love of thy God to Israel, to establish it to the age, He hath put thee over them for king, to do judgment and righteousness.’
9And she giveth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stone; and there hath not been any such spice as the queen of Sheba hath given to king Solomon.
10And also, servants of Huram, and servants of Solomon, who brought in gold from Ophir, have brought in algum-trees and precious stone.
11And the king maketh the algum-trees staircases for the house of Jehovah, 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.
12And king Solomon hath given to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which she had brought unto the king, and she turneth and goeth to her land, she and her servants.
13And the weight of the gold that is coming to Solomon in one year is six hundred and sixty and six talents of gold,
14apart 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.
15And king Solomon maketh two hundred targets of alloyed gold, six hundred [shekels] of alloyed gold he causeth to go up on the one target;
16and three hundred shields of alloyed gold, three hundred [shekels] of gold he causeth to go up on the one shield, and the king putteth them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
17And the king maketh a great throne of ivory, and overlayeth it with pure gold;
18and six steps [are] to the throne, and a footstool of gold, to the throne they are fastened, and hands [are] on this [side] and on that on the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands,
19and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps on this [side], and on that: it hath not been made so for any kingdom.
20And 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;
21for ships of the king are going to Tarshish, with servants of Huram: once in three years come do the ships of Tarshish bearing gold, and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22And king Solomon becometh greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom;
23and all the kings of the earth are seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God hath put in his heart,
24and they are bringing in each his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
25And there are to Solomon four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, and he placed them in cities of the chariot, and with the king in Jerusalem.
26And he is ruling over all the kings from the River even unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt.
27And the king maketh the silver in Jerusalem as stones, and the cedars he hath made as sycamores, that [are] in the low country, for abundance,
28and they are bringing out horses from Egypt to Solomon, and from all the lands.
29And 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?
30And Solomon reigneth in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years,
31and Solomon lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city of David his father, and reign doth Rehoboam his son in his stead.
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