Solomon’s Splendor^(A)

¹⁴ The weight of the gold^(B) that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,^{[a] 15} not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields^(C) of hammered gold; six hundred shekels^[b] of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷ He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas^[c] of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.^(D)

¹⁸ Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold.^(E) Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. ²² The king had a fleet of trading ships^[d](F) at sea along with the ships^(G) of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

²³ King Solomon was greater in riches^(H) and wisdom^(I) than all the other kings of the earth. ²⁴ The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom^(J) God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift^(K)—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

²⁶ Solomon accumulated chariots and horses;^(L) he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,^[e] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver as common^(M) in Jerusalem as stones,^(N) and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig^(O) trees in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue^[f]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. ²⁹ They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.^[g] They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites^(P) and of the Arameans.