1 Kings 10
Darby Translation
10 And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon in connection with the name of Jehovah, and came to prove him with enigmas.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices and gold in very great abundance, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon, and spoke to him of all that was in her heart.
3 And Solomon explained to her all she spoke of: there was not a thing hidden from the king that he did not explain to her.
4 And when the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
5 and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her.
6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs, and of thy wisdom;
7 but I gave no credit to the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the half was not told me: in wisdom and prosperity thou exceedest the report that I heard.
8 Happy are thy men! happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, who hear thy wisdom!
9 Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel! Because Jehovah loves Israel for ever, therefore did he make thee king, to do judgment and justice.
10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
11 (And the fleet also of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir sandal-wood in very great abundance, and precious stones.
12 And the king made of the sandal-wood a balustrade for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, and harps and lutes for the singers. There came no such sandal-wood, nor was there seen to this day.)
13 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what he gave her of the bounty of king Solomon. And she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.
14 And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,
15 besides what [came] by the dealers, and by the traffic of the merchants, and by all the kings of Arabia, and by the governors of the country.
16 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,—he applied six hundred [shekels] of gold to one target;
17 and three hundred shields of beaten gold,—he applied three minas of gold to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
18 And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with refined gold:
19 the throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was rounded behind; and there were arms on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the arms;
20 and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
21 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold: none were of silver, [which] was not of the least account in the days of Solomon.
22 For the king had on the sea a Tarshish-fleet, with the fleet of Hiram: once in three years came the Tarshish-fleet, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
23 And king Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and clothing, and armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.
26 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance.
28 And the exportation of horses that Solomon had was from Egypt: a caravan of the king's merchants fetched a drove [of horses], at a price.
29 And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so they brought [them] by their means, for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.
1 Kings 10
EasyEnglish Bible
The Queen of Sheba
10 The Queen of Sheba heard news that Solomon was a great king who served the Lord.[a] So she came to ask Solomon some difficult questions to see how wise he was. 2 She arrived at Jerusalem with a big group of servants. She had many camels that carried spices. They also carried a lot of gold and valuable jewels. When she came to Solomon, she talked to him about everything that was in her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing that was too difficult for the king to explain to her. 4 The Queen of Sheba saw that Solomon was very wise.[b] She saw the palace that he had built. 5 She saw all the food that he ate in his palace. She saw all his servants and officers and their beautiful clothes. She saw the servants who prepared his food and wine. She saw the burnt offerings that he offered in the Lord's temple. All these things caused her to hold her breath in surprise. 6 She said to the king, ‘In my own country I heard news about your wisdom and about all the things that you had done. Everything that I heard was true! 7 But I did not believe those things until I came here. Now I have seen everything with my own eyes, and it is true! Really, they told me less than half of what was true! You are even wiser and richer than the report that people told me. 8 God has blessed your people and your officers! They are always with you, and they can listen to your wise words. 9 So we praise the Lord your God! He is happy with you and he has chosen you to rule Israel. The Lord's love for Israel will continue for ever. So he has made you king to rule in a fair and honest way.’
10 The Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon more than 4,000 kilograms of gold, a lot of spices and many valuable jewels. Nobody has ever brought such a big number of spices as she gave to the king.
11 Hiram's ships had brought gold from Ophir. They also brought from there large loads of good wood, and valuable jewels. 12 The king used the wood to make steps for the Lord's temple and for the king's palace. He also used it to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nobody has ever seen such valuable wood, even until today.
13 So King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba all the gifts that he chose for her. He gave her everything that she wanted. Then she left Solomon and she returned to her own country with her servants.
Solomon's riches
14 Solomon received 25 tons of gold each year.
15 He also received money from traders, from the kings of Arabia and from the rulers of each region in Israel.
16 King Solomon's workers used gold to make 200 large shields. They hit the gold with hammers to make it flat. They used about four kilograms of gold to cover each shield. 17 They also made 300 small shields in the same way. They used about 2 kilograms of gold to cover each shield. He put these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.[c]
18 The king used ivory to make a large throne. He covered it with gold. 19 There were six steps up to the throne. The back of the throne was a round shape at the top. On both sides of the seat there were places for the king to put his arms. An image of a lion stood on each side of the throne. 20 There were 12 more images of lions on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of every step. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom. 21 They used gold to make all King Solomon's cups that he drank from. In the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, all the dishes and other things were made with gold. They used pure gold. They did not make anything with silver. In Solomon's time, people did not think that silver was very valuable.
22 The king had many large ships that could sail across the seas.[d] They sailed with King Hiram's ships. Every three years they returned to Solomon with their loads. They brought to him gold, silver and ivory. They also brought apes and monkeys.[e]
23 King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. 24 People from every nation in the world wanted to talk to Solomon. They wanted to listen to the wisdom that God had given to him. 25 Every year, people who came to visit Solomon brought him gifts. They brought things that were made from silver and gold, as well as clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.
26 Solomon brought together many chariots and horses for his soldiers to ride. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept some of them in Jerusalem where he lived as king. He put the others in cities that he had chosen for this.
27 While Solomon ruled as king, there was as much silver in Jerusalem as stones! There was as much wood from cedar trees as there were fig trees that grew in the low hills in the west. 28 Solomon brought his horses from Egypt and from Kue. He sent traders to Kue to buy them for him. 29 Each chariot that they bought in Egypt cost 600 pieces of silver. Each horse cost 150 pieces of silver. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.
Footnotes
- 10:1 Sheba may be in Africa. Bible students are not sure where it was.
- 10:4 See 1 Kings 3:9.
- 10:17 See 1 Kings 7:2-5.
- 10:22 There was no sea at Jerusalem, so Solomon kept his ships with King Hiram. Hiram lived in Tyre, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
- 10:22 ‘monkeys’ or ‘peacocks’. ‘Apes’ are animals like big monkeys. Peacocks are beautiful birds.
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