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.^[a]

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.^[b] 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.^[c]

¹³ But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

⁴⁰ For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

⁸ On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them!

Israel’s Ultimate Deliverance

²⁶ The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.