1 Kings 10:14-29

Common English Bible

Solomon’s wealth

¹⁴ Solomon received an annual income of six hundred sixty-six kikkars of gold, ¹⁵ not including income from the traders, the merchants and their profits, all the Arabian kings, and the officials of the land. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred body-sized shields of hammered gold, using fifteen pounds^[a] of gold in each shield, ¹⁷ and three hundred small shields of hammered gold, using sixty ounces^[b] of gold in each shield. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Palace.

¹⁸ The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with pure gold. ¹⁹ Six steps led up to the throne, and the back of the throne was rounded at the top. Two lions stood beside the armrests on both sides of the throne. ²⁰ Another twelve lions stood on both sides of the six steps. No other kingdom had anything like this. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the items in the Forest of Lebanon Palace were made of pure gold, not silver, since even silver wasn’t considered good enough in Solomon’s time! ²² The royal fleet of Tarshish-style ships was at sea with Hiram’s fleet, returning once every three years with gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.^[c]

²³ King Solomon far exceeded all the earth’s kings in wealth and wisdom, ²⁴ and so the whole earth wanted an audience with Solomon in order to hear his God-given wisdom. ²⁵ Year after year they came with tribute: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁶ Solomon acquired more and more chariots and horses until he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses that he kept in chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ In Jerusalem, the king made silver as common as stones and cedar as plentiful as sycamore trees that grow in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue, purchased from Kue by the king’s agents at the going price. ²⁹ They would import a chariot from Egypt for six hundred pieces of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty, and then export them to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.