1 Kings 10:14-29

New Life Version

Solomon’s Riches

¹⁴ The gold which came in to Solomon in one year weighed as much as 666 small men, ¹⁵ besides all the gold that came from the traders and all the kings of the Arabs and the leaders of the country. ¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large body coverings for battle of beaten gold. For each covering he used 600 pieces of gold. ¹⁷ And he made 300 coverings of beaten gold, using 150 pieces of gold on each covering. The king put them in the house among the trees of Lebanon. ¹⁸ Then the king made a large throne of ivory and covered it with fine gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and a round top at its back. There were arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one on each end. Nothing like it was made for any other king. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold. And all the cups of the house among the trees of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None of them were made of silver. Silver was not thought of as being of much worth in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had a group of ships of Tarshish at sea with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴ They came from all over the earth to see Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Every one of them brought his gift. They brought objects of silver and gold, clothing, objects for fighting in battle, spices, horses and donkeys, so much year by year.

²⁶ Solomon gathered war-wagons and horsemen. He had 1,400 war-wagons and 12,000 horsemen. He kept them in the war-wagon cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver as easy to find as stones in Jerusalem. He made cedar trees as easy to find as the sycamore trees of the valley. ²⁸ Solomon had horses brought from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue, each for a price. ²⁹ A war-wagon could be brought from Egypt for 600 pieces of silver, and a horse for 150 pieces of silver. They got them in the same way for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.