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2 Chronicles 1:1-9:31

CHRONICLES 2. SOLOMON king of the United kingdom. Prays for wisdom. (2Chr.1.1-12)

1¹Solomon son of David then made himself secure over his kingdom. Yahweh his God was with him, making him more and more powerful. ²Solomon then spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of families. ³Solomon, and the whole assembly with him, then went to the high place at Gibeon, where God's Tent of Meeting was, which Moses, servant of God, had made in the desert. ⁴The ark of the covenant, however, David had brought from Kiriath-Jearim to the place which he had prepared for it, having pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ⁵The bronze altar which Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made was there, in front of Yahweh's Dwelling, where Solomon and the assembly consulted him. ⁶There Solomon presented a burnt offering before Yahweh on the bronze altar of the Tent of Meeting, making on it one thousand burnt offerings. ⁷That night God appeared to Solomon and said, 'Ask what you would like me to give you.' ⁸Solomon replied to God, 'You showed most faithful love to David my father, and you have made me king in succession to him. ⁹Yahweh God, the promise you made to David my father has now been fulfilled, since you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰Therefore give me wisdom and knowledge to act as leader of this people, for how otherwise could such a great people as yours be governed?' ¹¹'Since that is what you want,' God said to Solomon, 'since you have asked, not for riches, treasure, honour, the lives of your enemies, or even for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people of whom I have made you king, ¹²therefore wisdom and knowledge are granted you. I give you riches too, and treasure, and honour such as no king had before you and none will have after you.'

Solomon's power & wealth. (2Chr.1.13-17)

¹³So Solomon came away from the high place at Gibeon, from the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem and reigned over Israel. ¹⁴Solomon then built up a force of chariots and cavalry; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he kept in the chariot towns and near the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵In Jerusalem the king made silver and gold as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as sycamore in the lowlands. ¹⁶Solomon's horses were imported from Muzur and Cilicia. The king's dealers acquired them in Cilicia at the prevailing price. ¹⁷A chariot was imported from Egypt for six hundred silver shekels and a horse from Cilicia for a hundred and fifty. They also supplied the Hittite and Aramaean kings, who all used them as middlemen. ¹⁸Solomon then gave the order to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a palace in which to reign.

Preparations for building the temple. (2Chr.2.1-16)

2¹And Solomon allocated seventy thousand men to be porters and eighty thousand to quarry in the hills and three thousand six hundred overseers for them. ²And Solomon sent this message to Huram king of Tyre, 'Do as you did for my father David when you sent him cedars for him to build himself a palace to live in. ³You see, I am building a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to acknowledge his holiness so that perfumed incense may be burnt before him, the loaves of permanent offering be perpetually laid out and the burnt offerings be made morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, New Moons and solemn festivals of Yahweh our God, as prescribed to Israel for ever; ⁴and the house which I am building must be large, for our God is greater than all gods; ⁵even so, who would not find it an impossible task to build a house for him, when the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain him? And who am I to build a house for him except to burn incense before him? ⁶So now send me a man skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, scarlet, crimson and violet materials, and who knows the art of engraving too; he is to work with my skilled men in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David has provided. ⁷Also send me cedar, juniper and algum trunks from the Lebanon, for I know that your servants know the art of felling timber in the Lebanon. And, my servants will work with your servants ⁸in preparing a vast quantity of timber for me, since the house which I intend to build is to be of a size to marvel at. ⁹Furthermore, for the upkeep of the woodcutters whom you employ to cut the timber, I shall provide twenty thousand kor of wheat, twenty thousand kor of barley, twenty thousand bat of wine and twenty thousand bat of oil.' ¹⁰In a letter sent to King Solomon, Huram king of Tyre replied, 'Because Yahweh loves his people he has made you their king!' ¹¹Huram went on to say, 'Praised be Yahweh, God of Israel, who made heaven and earth and has given King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and discernment, to build a house for Yahweh and a palace in which to reign!- ¹²I am now sending you a skilled and intelligent man, Huram-Abi ¹³the son of a Danite woman by a Tyrian father. He knows the arts of working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, scarlet, violet, fine linen and crimson materials, and is competent to carry out any kind of engraving and to execute any design which may be entrusted to him, in collaboration with your skilled men and those of my lord David, your father. ¹⁴'So now let my lord send his servants the wheat, barley, oil and wine as promised ¹⁵and we will fell all the wood you need from Lebanon, and bring it you in rafts by sea to Jaffa; and it will be your responsibility to transport it to Jerusalem.' ¹⁶Solomon then took a census of all the aliens resident in Israel similar to the census which his father David had taken; it was found that there were a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.

Construction of the temple begins. (2Chr.2.17-3.14)

¹⁷He impressed seventy thousand of them as porters, eighty thousand as quarrymen in the hills and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make sure the people worked. 3¹Solomon then began building the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where David his father had had a vision—on the site which David had prepared—on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²He began building it on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ³These are the dimensions which Solomon fixed for the structure of the house of God: its length in cubits, according to the old standard, was sixty cubits and its width twenty cubits; ⁴and the portico in front of the house was the full width of the house, that is, twenty cubits, and its height was a hundred and twenty cubits; on the inside he overlaid it with pure gold. ⁵The Great Hall he lined with juniper, which he overlaid with fine gold and ornamented with palm trees and festoons, ⁶and he decorated the hall beautifully with precious stones and with gold from Parvaim, ⁷overlaying the hall, its beams and its thresholds, its walls and its doors, with gold and engraving the walls with great winged creatures. ⁸He also made the Holy of Holies, the length of which corresponded to the width of the Great Hall, being twenty cubits, with a width of twenty cubits, and this he overlaid with fine gold weighing six hundred talents, ⁹while the weight of the gold nails was fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold. ¹⁰In the Holy of Holies he modelled two winged creatures of wrought metal work and overlaid them with gold. ¹¹The total span of their wings was twenty cubits; one wing, being five cubits long, touched the wall of the house and the other wing, being five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature; ¹²while one wing of the other, five cubits long, touched the other wall of the house and the other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature. ¹³The spread of these creatures' wings was twenty cubits. They stood in an upright position, with their faces towards the Hall. ¹⁴He also made the Curtain of violet, scarlet, crimson and fine linen, working a design of winged creatures on it.

The two bronze columns. (2Chr.3.15-17)

¹⁵In front of the Hall he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and on the top of each a capital measuring five cubits. ¹⁶He made festoons, in the Debir, to go at the tops of the pillars, and made a hundred pomegranates to go on the festoons. ¹⁷He erected the pillars in front of the Temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin and the one on the left, Boaz.

Equipment for the temple. (2Chr.4.1-5.1)

4¹He made a bronze altar, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. ²He made the Sea of cast metal, ten cubits from rim to rim, circular in shape and five cubits high; a cord thirty cubits long gave the measurement of its girth. ³Under it and completely encircling it were things like oxen, ten to the cubit round the entire Sea; the oxen were in two rows, of one and the same casting with the rest. ⁴It rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, three facing east; on these, their hindquarters all turned inwards, stood the Sea. ⁵It was a hand's breadth in thickness, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup-lily-shaped. It could hold three thousand bat. ⁶He made ten basins, putting five on the right and five on the left, for washing in; the things to be offered as burnt offerings were to be rinsed in these, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷He made the ten golden lamp-stands according to the pattern and placed them in the Hekal, five on the right and five on the left. ⁸He made ten tables which he set up in the Hekal, five on the right and five on the left. He also made a hundred golden sprinkling bowls. ⁹He made the court of the priests and the great court with its gates and plated the gates with bronze. ¹⁰The Sea he placed on the right-hand side of the Temple, to the south-east. ¹¹Huram made the ash containers, the scoops and the sprinkling bowls. Thus Huram completed all the work done for King Solomon for the Temple of God: ¹²the two pillars; the mouldings of the capitals surmounting the two pillars; the two sets of filigree to cover the two mouldings of the capitals surmounting the pillars; ¹³the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of filigree—two rows of pomegranates for each set of filigree; ¹⁴the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; ¹⁵the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath it; ¹⁶the ash containers, scoops and forks. All these utensils made by Huram-Abi for King Solomon for the Temple of Yahweh were of burnished bronze. ¹⁷The King made them by the process of sand casting, in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸There was such an enormous quantity of them that the weight of the bronze could not be calculated. ¹⁹Solomon made all the objects designed for the Temple of God, as well as the golden altar and the tables for the loaves of permanent offering; ²⁰the lamp-stands with their lamps to burn, as prescribed, in front of the Debir, of pure gold; ²¹the floral work, the lamps, the tongs, of gold (and it was pure gold); ²²the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, incense ladles and the pans, of real gold; and the entrance to the Temple, the inner doors (for the Holy of Holies) and the doors of the Temple itself, that is of the Hekal, were also made of gold. 5¹Thus all the work done by Solomon for the Temple of Yahweh was completed, and Solomon brought in the gifts which his father David had consecrated; and he had the silver, the gold and all the utensils put into the treasuries of the Temple of God.

The Ark is brought into the temple. (2Chr.5.2-10)

²Solomon then assembled the elders of Israel to Jerusalem, all the tribal chiefs, the princes of the families of Israel, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh up from the City of David, that is, Zion. ³All the men of Israel assembled round the king at the time of the feast, that is, in the seventh month. ⁴When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark; ⁵they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred utensils which were in the Tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶King Solomon and the whole assembly of Israel present with him before the ark sacrificed countless, innumerable sheep and oxen. ⁷The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, in the Debir of the Temple, that is, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the winged creatures; ⁸for they spread their wings over the place where the ark stood, forming a canopy over the ark and its shafts. ⁹The shafts were so long, however, that the ends of the shafts of the ark could be seen in front of the Holy Place in front of the Debir, though they could not be seen from outside. They are still there today. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses had placed in it at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

The glory of the LORD. (2Chr.5.11-14)

¹¹Now when the priests came out of the Holy Place—for all the priests present had sanctified themselves regardless of the orders to which they belonged, ¹²and all the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun with their sons and brothers, dressed in linen, were standing to the east of the altar with cymbals, lyres and harps and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing the trumpets, ¹³and the harmony between trumpeters and singers was such that only one melody could be heard as they praised and gave thanks to Yahweh—and the singing began, to the accompaniment of trumpets, cymbals and musical instruments, and they praised Yahweh 'for he is good, for his faithful love is everlasting'—then the Temple was filled with the cloud of the glory of Yahweh, ¹⁴and because of the cloud the priests could not stay and perform their duties. For the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple of God.

Soloman's address to the people. (2Chr.6.1-11)

6¹Then Solomon said: Yahweh has chosen to dwell in thick cloud, ²and I have built you a princely dwelling, a residence for you for ever. ³Then the king turned round and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood. ⁴He said, 'Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who has carried out by his hand what he promised verbally to my father David, when he said, ⁵'From the day I brought my people out of Egypt I chose no city, in any of the tribes of Israel, to have a temple built where my name should be, nor did I choose anyone to be prince of my people Israel; ⁶but I did choose Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I did choose David to rule my people Israel.' ⁷My father David had set his heart on building a temple for the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, ⁸but Yahweh said to my father David, 'You have set your heart on building a temple for my name, and in this you have done well; ⁹and yet, you are not the man to build the temple; but your son, yet to be born to you, will be the one to build the temple for my name.' ¹⁰Yahweh has kept the promise which he made: I have succeeded my father David and am seated on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised; I have built the temple for the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, ¹¹and I have placed in it the ark containing the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with the Israelites.'

Solomon's prayer. (2Chr.6.12-42)

¹²Then in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, he stood facing the altar of Yahweh and stretched out his hands- ¹³for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and five cubits high, which he had placed in the middle of the court and on which he was standing; he knelt down in front of the whole assembly of Israel, stretched out his hands to heaven- ¹⁴and said, 'Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth, you who are loyal to the covenant and show faithful love to your servants as long as they walk wholeheartedly in your way. ¹⁵You have kept it with your servant, my father David, as you promised him you would. What you promised verbally today you have carried out by your hand. ¹⁶And now, Yahweh, God of Israel, keep the promise which you made to your servant David when you said, 'You will never lack for a man to sit in my presence before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your sons are careful how they behave, following my law as you yourself have done.' ¹⁷So now, God of Israel, let the words come true which you spoke to your servant, my father David. ¹⁸Yet will God really live with the people on earth? Why, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you! How much less this temple built by me! ¹⁹Even so, listen favourably to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, Yahweh my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant makes to you: ²⁰Day and night, may your eyes watch over this temple, over this place in which you have promised to put your name. Listen to the prayer which your servant offers in this place. ²¹'Listen to the entreaties of your servant and of your people Israel; whenever they pray in this place, listen from the place where you reside in heaven; and when you hear, forgive. ²²'If someone has wronged his neighbour and a curse is laid on him to make him swear here before your altar in this Temple, ²³then listen from heaven and do justice between your servants, paying back the guilty one by making him suffer for his conduct, and acquitting the upright by rewarding him as his uprightness deserves. ²⁴'If your people Israel are defeated by the enemy because they have sinned against you, but then return to you and acknowledge your name, and pray and seek your favour in this temple, ²⁵then listen from heaven; forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the country which you gave to them and their ancestors. ²⁶'When the heavens are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray in this place and praise your name and, having been humbled by you, desist from their sin, ²⁷then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servant and of your people Israel—for you are constantly showing them the good way which they must follow—and send rain on your country, which you have given to your people as their heritage. ²⁸'Should there be famine in the country, or pestilence, wind-blast or mildew, locust or caterpillar; should their enemy lay siege to their territory; should there be any plague or any disease; ²⁹whatever be the prayer or entreaty of any individual, or of all your people Israel, each being aware of his own affliction and pain; when he stretches out his hands towards this Temple, ³⁰then listen from heaven where you reside; forgive and, since you know what is in his heart, deal with each as his conduct deserves—for you alone know what is in the human heart- ³¹so that they may revere you by following your directions, which you gave to our ancestors, throughout their lives on earth. ³²'Even the foreigner, not belonging to your people Israel but coming from a distant country, attracted by your great name, your mighty hand and outstretched arm, if he comes and prays in this Temple, ³³then listen from heaven where you reside, and grant all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may acknowledge your name and, like your people Israel, revere you, and know that this Temple, which I have built, bears your name. ³⁴'If your people go out to war against their enemies, on whatever mission you send them, and they pray to you, turning towards this city which you have chosen and towards the Temple which I have built for your name, ³⁵then listen from heaven to their prayer and their entreaty, and uphold their cause. ³⁶'When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and abandon them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to a country be it far away or near, ³⁷if they come to their senses in the country to which they have been taken as captives and pray to you once again in the country of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have acted wrongly and wickedly,' ³⁸and turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the country of their captivity to which they have been carried away as captives, and pray, turning towards the country which you gave to their ancestors, towards the city you have chosen, and towards the Temple which I have built for your name, ³⁹then listen from heaven where you reside, hear their prayer and entreaties, uphold their cause and forgive your people for having sinned against you. ⁴⁰'Now, O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer offered in this place. ⁴¹And now Yahweh God, go up to your resting-place, you and your fortress, the Ark! Let your priests, Yahweh God, be robed in salvation, let your faithful rejoice in what is good! ⁴²Yahweh God, do not rebuff your Anointed—remember the faithful love of your servant David!'

Dedication of the temple. (2Chr.7.1-10)

7¹When Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple. ²The priests could not enter the Temple of Yahweh, because the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple of Yahweh. ³When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh resting on the Temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the earth, worshipping and praising Yahweh with 'For he is good, for his faithful love lasts for ever!' ⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Yahweh. ⁵King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and thus the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. ⁶The priests stood in their places, as did the Levites with Yahweh's musical instruments which King David had provided, to render 'Give thanks to Yahweh, for his faithful love lasts for ever!' whenever David offered praise to their accompaniment. Opposite them, the priests blew trumpets, while all Israel stood. ⁷Solomon also consecrated the middle part of the court in front of the Temple of Yahweh; for that was where he presented the burnt offerings and the fatty parts of the communion sacrifices, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering, the oblation and the fatty parts. ⁸And then Solomon and with him all Israel from the Pass of Hamath to the Torrent of Egypt—a very great assembly—celebrated the feast for seven days. ⁹On the eighth day they held the assembly, for they had devoted seven days to the dedication of the altar and seven days to the feast. ¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon dismissed the people to their homes, rejoicing and happy of heart over the goodness which Yahweh had shown to David, to Solomon and to his people Israel.

The LORD appears to Solomon again. (2Chr.7.11-22)

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the Temple of Yahweh and the royal palace, and he successfully concluded everything that he was of a mind to do in the Temple of Yahweh and in his own palace. ¹²Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon in the night and said, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the country, or if I send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴if my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked ways, then I will listen from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their country. ¹⁵Now and for the future my eyes are open and my ears attentive to prayer offered in this place, ¹⁶for now I have chosen and consecrated this Temple, for my name to be there for ever; my eyes and my heart will constantly be there. ¹⁷And if, for your part, you walk before me as your father David did, and do everything that I have commanded you to do, and keep my laws and my ordinances, ¹⁸I shall make your royal throne secure, as I covenanted with your father David when I said: You will never lack for a male to rule in Israel. ¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake my laws and commandments which I have laid down for you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰then I shall uproot them from the country which I have given them, and shall disown this Temple which I have consecrated for my name and make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples. ²¹And at this once-exalted Temple, everyone who passes by will be appalled, and will say, 'Why has Yahweh treated this country and this Temple like this?' ²²And the answer will be, 'Because they deserted Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshipped and served them; that is why he has brought all these disasters on them.' '

Solomon's achievements. (2Chr.8.1-18)

8¹At the end of the twenty years which it took Solomon to build the Temple of Yahweh and his own palace, ²and to rebuild the towns which Huram had given him and settle them with Israelites, ³Solomon mounted an expedition against Hamath-Zobah and captured it. ⁴He also fortified Tadmor in the desert and all the storage towns which he had built in Hamath. ⁵He also built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon as fortified towns with walls and gates and bars, ⁶also Baalath and all Solomon's storage towns, all the towns for his chariots and horses, and everything which Solomon was pleased to build in Jerusalem, in the Lebanon and throughout the territory under his rule. ⁷All those who survived of the Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite and Jebusite peoples, who did not belong to Israel- ⁸those of their descendants still remaining in the country, whom the Israelites had not exterminated, these Solomon levied for forced labour, as is still the case today. ⁹Solomon did not, however, impose forced labour on the Israelites for his work—for they were soldiers, his senior officers and his chariot and cavalry commanders. ¹⁰There were two hundred and fifty of King Solomon's officials in charge of the foremen who supervised the people. ¹¹Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace which he had built for her. 'I must not be responsible', he said, 'for a woman living in the palace of David king of Israel, for these buildings to which the ark of Yahweh has come are sacred.' ¹²Thereafter, Solomon made burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh which he had built in front of the portico, ¹³in accordance with the regular prescriptions for burnt sacrifice as commanded by Moses, on the Sabbaths, New Moons and the three annual feasts; the feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of Weeks and the feast of Shelters. ¹⁴Following the prescriptions of his father David, he assigned the orders of priests to their duties and the Levites to their tasks of praise and of assisting the priests in accordance with day-to-day requirements; as also the gatekeepers in their various orders to each gate—for such was the command of David, man of God. ¹⁵Nor was there deviation on any point from the king's command as regards the priests, the Levites or even the storehouses. ¹⁶Thus, all the work was over which Solomon had put in hand when the Temple of Yahweh was founded until it was finished. The Temple of Yahweh was complete in every detail. ¹⁷Solomon then mounted an expedition to Ezion-Geber and Elath on the sea-coast of Edom. ¹⁸Huram sent him ships through his agents, as well as experienced sailors, who went to Ophir with men in Solomon's service, where they took on four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba. (2Chr.9.1-12)

9¹The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame and came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions, with a very large retinue with camels laden with spices and an immense quantity of gold and precious stones. Having reached Solomon, she discussed everything that she had in mind with him, ²and Solomon had an answer for all her questions; not one of them was too obscure for Solomon to answer for her. ³When the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was, the palace which he had built, ⁴the food at his table, the accommodation for his officials, the organisation of his staff and the way they were dressed, his cupbearers and the way they were dressed, and the burnt offerings, which he made in the Temple of Yahweh, it left her breathless, ⁵and she said to the king, 'The report I heard in my own country about you and about your wisdom in handling your affairs was true, then! ⁶Until I came and saw for myself, I did not believe the reports, but clearly I was told less than half about the true extent of your wisdom. You surpass what was reported to me. ⁷How fortunate your people are! How fortunate your courtiers, continually in attendance on you and listening to your wisdom! ⁸Blessed be Yahweh your God. Because your God loved Israel and meant to keep it secure for ever, he has made you its king to administer law and justice.' ⁹And she presented the king with a hundred and twenty talents of gold and great quantities of spices and precious stones. There never were such spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹⁰Similarly, the men employed by Huram and the men employed by Solomon, who brought the gold from Ophir, also brought back algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹Of the algum wood the king made steps for the Temple of Yahweh and for the royal palace, and harps and lyres for the musicians, the like of which had never before been seen in Judah. ¹²And King Solomon, in his turn, presented the queen of Sheba with everything that she expressed a wish for, besides what he gave her in exchange for what she had brought to the king. After which, she went home to her own country, she and her servants.

King Solomon's wealth. (2Chr.9.13-28)

¹³The weight of the gold received annually by Solomon amounted to six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴besides what tolls and foreign trade brought in; all the Arab kings and the provincial governors also brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred great shields of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of beaten gold going into one shield; ¹⁶also three hundred small shields of beaten gold, three hundred shekels of gold going into one shield; and the king put these into the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷The king also made a great ivory throne which he overlaid with refined gold. ¹⁸The throne had six steps with a golden foot-rest attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat and two lions standing beside the arms, ¹⁹and twelve lions stood on either side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom. ²⁰All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the plate in the House of the Forest of Lebanon was of pure gold; silver was little thought of in Solomon's days, ²¹since the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's employees, and once every three years the merchantmen would come back laden with gold and silver, ivory, apes and baboons. ²²For riches and for wisdom, King Solomon surpassed all kings on earth, ²³and all the kings in the world consulted Solomon to hear the wisdom which God had implanted in his heart, ²⁴and everyone would bring a present with him: objects of silver and of gold, robes, armour, spices, horses and mules; and this went on year after year. ²⁵Solomon also had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand cavalrymen; these he stationed in the chariot towns and near the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶He was overlord of all the kings from the River to the territory of the Philistines and the Egyptian border. ²⁷In Jerusalem the king made silver as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as sycamore in the Lowlands. ²⁸Horses were imported for Solomon from Muzur and all the other countries too.

Summary of Solomon's reign. (2Chr.9.29-31)

²⁹The rest of the history of Solomon, from first to last, is this not all written down in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the Vision of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat? ³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹When Solomon fell asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of his father David; Rehoboam his son succeeded him.