1 Kings 10:14-29
New Living Translation
Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor
14 Each year Solomon received about 25 tons[a] of gold. 15 This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders, all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the land.
16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than fifteen pounds.[b] 17 He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each weighing nearly four pounds.[c] The king placed these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps and a rounded back. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, and the figure of a lion stood on each side of the throne. 20 There 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!
21 All 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!
22 The king had a fleet of trading ships of Tarshish that sailed with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.[d]
23 So King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth. 24 People from every nation came to consult him and to hear the wisdom God had given him. 25 Year after year everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
26 Solomon built up a huge force of chariots and horses.[e] He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He stationed some of them in the chariot cities and some near him in Jerusalem. 27 The 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.[f] 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt[g] and from Cilicia[h]; the king’s traders acquired them from Cilicia at the standard price. 29 At that time chariots from Egypt could be purchased for 600 pieces of silver,[i] and horses for 150 pieces of silver.[j] They were then exported to the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
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- 10:14 Hebrew 666 talents [23 metric tons].
- 10:16 Hebrew 600 [shekels] of gold [6.8 kilograms].
- 10:17 Hebrew 3 minas [1.8 kilograms].
- 10:22 Or and baboons.
- 10:26 Or charioteers; also in 10:26b.
- 10:27 Hebrew the Shephelah.
- 10:28a Possibly Muzur, a district near Cilicia; also in 10:29.
- 10:28b Hebrew Kue, probably another name for Cilicia.
- 10:29a Hebrew 600 [shekels] of silver, about 15 pounds or 6.8 kilograms in weight.
- 10:29b Hebrew 150 [shekels], about 3.8 pounds or 1.7 kilograms in weight.
1 Kings 10:14-29
New English Translation
Solomon’s Wealth
14 Solomon received 666 talents[a] of gold per year,[b] 15 besides what he collected from the merchants,[c] traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land. 16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures[d] of gold were used for each shield. 17 He also made 300 small shields of hammered gold; three minas[e] of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.[f]
18 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 19 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and the back of it was rounded on top. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.[g] 20 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.[h]
21 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time.[i] 22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships[j] that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet[k] came into port with cargoes of[l] gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.[m]
23 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth.[n] 24 Everyone[o] in the world wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom.[p] 25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules.[q]
26 Solomon accumulated[r] chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.[s] 27 The king made silver as plentiful[t] in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was[u] as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the foothills.[v] 28 Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt[w] and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que. 29 They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.[x]
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- 1 Kings 10:14 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 50,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV); CEV, NLT “twenty-five tons”; TEV “almost 23,000 kilogrammes.”
- 1 Kings 10:14 tn Heb “the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.”
- 1 Kings 10:15 tn Heb “from the traveling men.”
- 1 Kings 10:16 tn The Hebrew text has simply “six hundred,” with no unit of measure given.
- 1 Kings 10:17 sn Three minas. The mina was a unit of measure for weight.
- 1 Kings 10:17 sn The Palace of the Lebanon Forest. This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest.
- 1 Kings 10:19 tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”
- 1 Kings 10:20 tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for all the kingdoms.”
- 1 Kings 10:21 tn Heb “there was no silver, it was not regarded as anything in the days of Solomon.”
- 1 Kings 10:22 tn Heb “a fleet of Tarshish [ships].” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.
- 1 Kings 10:22 tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”
- 1 Kings 10:22 tn Heb “came carrying.”
- 1 Kings 10:22 tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Some suggest “baboons.”
- 1 Kings 10:23 tn Heb “King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and with respect to wisdom.”
- 1 Kings 10:24 tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta have “all the kings of the earth.” See 2 Chr 9:23.
- 1 Kings 10:24 tn Heb “and all the earth was seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart.”
- 1 Kings 10:25 tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”
- 1 Kings 10:26 tn Or “gathered.”
- 1 Kings 10:26 tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”
- 1 Kings 10:27 tn The words “as plentiful” are added for clarification.
- 1 Kings 10:27 tn Heb “he made.”
- 1 Kings 10:27 sn The foothills (שְׁפֵלָה, shephelah) are the region between the Judean hill country and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
- 1 Kings 10:28 sn From Egypt. Because Que is also mentioned, some prefer to see in vv. 28-29 a reference to Mutsur. Que and Mutsur were located in Cilicia/Cappadocia (in modern southern Turkey). See HALOT 625 s.v. מִצְרַיִם.
- 1 Kings 10:29 tn Heb “and a chariot went up and came out of Egypt for six hundred silver [pieces], and a horse for one hundred fifty, and in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram by their hand they brought out.”
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