2 Chronicles 9
Lexham English Bible
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
9 Now the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, with much wealth and camels, bearing spices and much gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and told him all that was on her mind.[a] 2 And Solomon answered all her questions.[b] Not a word was hidden from Solomon that he did not answer for her. 3 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house he had built, 4 and the food of his table, and the position of his officers, the duty of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of Yahweh, there was no longer any breath[c] in her. 5 And she said to the king, “The word which I heard in my land concerning your words and your wisdom is true, 6 but I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not reported to me; you surpass the rumors that I had heard. 7 Blessed are your men, and blessed are these your servants who stand before you regularly and hear your wisdom! 8 Blessed be Yahweh your God who took delight in you, to put you on his throne as king for Yahweh your God! Because your God loved Israel, he established him forever and has put you over them as king to do justice and righteousness!” 9 And she gave to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. And there were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10 Moreover the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir brought algum wood and precious stones. 11 And the king made steps for the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and lyres and harps for the singers from the algum wood. And there was not seen anything like them before in the land of Judah. 12 Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba every desired thing she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her land, she and her servants.
Solomon’s Great Wealth
13 And it happened that the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14 besides the gold and silver the traders and merchants brought, and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought. 15 And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went into each shield. 16 And he made three hundred small shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels went into each small shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 17 And the king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 And the throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to the throne. And there were armrests on each side.[d] And by the seat[e] were two lions standing beside the armrests. 19 And twelve lions were standing there on each of the six steps on each end.[f] And there was nothing like it made in all the kingdom. 20 And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not valued as anything in the days of Solomon. 21 For the ships of the king went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram.[g] Once every three years[h] the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22 Thus King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God put in his heart. 24 And each of them brought his gifts, objects of silver, objects of gold, cloaks, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, as an amount year by year. 25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. And he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 26 And he ruled over all the kings from the River[i] to the land of the Philistines, to the boundary of Egypt. 27 And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as the sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah for abundance. 28 And the horses were imported from Egypt and from all lands for Solomon.
The Death of Solomon
29 As for the remainder of the words of Solomon from the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles[j] of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer, concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 And Solomon slept with his ancestors,[k] and they buried him in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 9:1 Literally “in her heart”
- 2 Chronicles 9:2 Literally “made known to her all her words”
- 2 Chronicles 9:4 Or “spirit”
- 2 Chronicles 9:18 Literally “from this and from that”
- 2 Chronicles 9:18 Literally “the place of sitting”
- 2 Chronicles 9:19 Literally “from this and from that”
- 2 Chronicles 9:21 This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have “Hiram”
- 2 Chronicles 9:21 Literally “for three years”
- 2 Chronicles 9:26 That is, the Euphrates
- 2 Chronicles 9:29 Or “words”
- 2 Chronicles 9:31 Or “fathers”
2 Chronicles 9
World English Bible
9 When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart. 2 Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her. 3 When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 4 the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers also, their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her.[a]
5 She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. 6 However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me. You exceed the fame that I heard! 7 Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom. 8 Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for Yahweh your God; because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
9 She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents[b] of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 10 The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees[c] and precious stones. 11 The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for Yahweh’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah. 12 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, in addition to that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.
13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents[d] of gold, 14 in addition to that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15 King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels[e] of beaten gold went to one buckler. 16 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels[f] of gold went to one shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. 19 Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom. 20 All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 They each brought tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year. 25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland. 28 They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his father David’s city: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- 9:4 or, she was breathless.
- 9:9 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tons
- 9:10 possibly Indian sandalwood, which has nice grain and a pleasant scent and is good for woodworking
- 9:13 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 666 talents is about 20 metric tons
- 9:15 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces.
- 9:16 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 300 shekels was about 3 kilograms or about 96 Troy ounces.
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