¹⁷ He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each weighing nearly four pounds.^[a] The king placed these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

² One of Solomon’s buildings was called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.^[a] There were four rows of cedar pillars, and great cedar beams rested on the pillars.

Assyria Invades Judah

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,^[a] King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff^[b] from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.^[c]

³ These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.

²⁷ King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom.