Solomon’s Wealth^(A)

¹³ Solomon received in any given year about 666 talents^[a] of gold, ¹⁴ not including revenue from traders and merchants. In addition, all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the nation brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces,^{[b] 16} and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces.^[c] The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest. ¹⁷ The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ Six steps led up to the throne. A golden footstool was attached to the throne, which had armrests on each side of the seat and two lions standing on either side of each armrest. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were placed on both sides of the six steps leading to the throne,^[d] and nothing comparable was made for any other^[e] kingdom. ²⁰ All of King Solomon’s drinking vessels were made of^[f] gold, and all the vessels in his palace in the Lebanon forest were made of^[g] pure gold. Silver was never considered to be valuable during the lifetime of Solomon, ²¹ because the king had ships that sailed to Tarshish accompanied by Hiram’s servants. Once every three years ships from Tarshish returned, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² As a result, King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in regards to wealth and wisdom. ²³ All the kings of the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart. ²⁴ Everyone kept on bringing gifts on an annual basis, including items made of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules. ²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, along with 12,000 cavalry soldiers. He stationed them in various chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶ King Solomon^[h] ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates^[i] River west^[j] to the land of the Philistines and as far south as the boundary with Egypt.

²⁷ The king made silver as common as^[k] stones in Jerusalem, and made cedar trees as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah.^{[l] 28} They also kept bringing horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all of the surrounding^[m] countries.