Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts

¹⁰ Now ^(A)it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house ^11 (B)(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. ¹³ So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” ^(C)And he called them the land of ^[a]Cabul, as they are to this day. ¹⁴ Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

² that the cities which ^[a]Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. ³ And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements^(A)

¹⁵ And this is the reason for ^(B)the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, ^[a]the ^(C)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, ^(D)Hazor, ^(E)Megiddo, and ^(F)Gezer. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, ^(G)had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) ¹⁷ And Solomon built Gezer, Lower ^(H)Beth Horon, ^18 (I)Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, ¹⁹ all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for ^(J)his chariots and cities for his ^(K)cavalry, and whatever Solomon ^(L)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

^20 (M)All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— ²¹ that is, their descendants ^(N)who were left in the land after them, ^(O)whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—^(P)from these Solomon raised ^(Q)forced labor, as it is to this day. ²² But of the children of Israel Solomon ^(R)made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

²³ Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: ^(S)five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

¹¹ Now Solomon ^(A)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³ according to the ^(B)daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^(C)three appointed yearly ^(D)feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴ And, according to the ^[a]order of David his father, he appointed the ^(E)divisions of the priests for their service, ^(F)the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^(G)gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^(H)treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ^[b]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

^26 (A)King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at ^(B)Ezion Geber, which is near ^[a]Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

^18 (A)And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^(B)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon^(A)

10 Now when the ^(B)queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came ^(C)to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great ^[a]retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ³ So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing ^[b]so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. ⁴ And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, ^(D)and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶ Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁷ However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. ^8 (E)Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ^9 (F)Blessed be the Lord your God, who ^(G)delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, ^(H)to do justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰ Then she ^(I)gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ^11 (J)Also, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of ^[c]almug wood and precious stones from Ophir. ^12 (K)And the king made ^[d]steps of the almug wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such ^(L)almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.

¹³ Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Prosperity and Wisdom of Solomon’s Reign

²⁰ Judah and Israel were as numerous ^(A)as the sand by the sea in multitude, ^(B)eating and drinking and rejoicing. ²¹ So ^(C)Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from ^(D)the^[a] River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^(E)They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

^22 (F)Now Solomon’s ^[b]provision for one day was thirty ^[c]kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, ²³ ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region on this side of ^[d]the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over ^(G)all the kings on this side of the River; and ^(H)he had peace on every side all around him. ²⁵ And Judah and Israel ^(I)dwelt^[e] safely, ^(J)each man under his vine and his fig tree, ^(K)from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

^26 (L)Solomon had ^[f]forty thousand stalls of ^(M)horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ And ^(N)these governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply. ²⁸ They also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the horses and steeds, each man according to his charge.

Solomon’s Great Wealth^(A)

^13 (B)The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides what the traveling merchants and traders 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 large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; ^[a]three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the ^(C)House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne; there were ^[b]armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ¹⁹ Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.