Chronological

10 The queen of Sheba was fascinated when she heard about the famous Solomon and his devotion to the name of the Eternal One. She traveled a long way to meet him and to challenge him with her difficult questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem accompanied by many advisors, assistants, and camels carrying spices and a lot of gold and rare jewels. When she met Solomon, she asked him about everything she could think of.

³ Solomon gave her an answer to every question. The king knew all the answers, and he explained all she asked. ⁴ When the queen recognized Solomon’s wisdom and observed the palace he had envisioned and constructed, ⁵ the food on his table, the orderly arrangement of his servants, the attentive service and fine dress of his waiters, his wine servers, and the beautiful stairway^[a] that led up to the Eternal’s temple, she was in complete awe.

¹⁰ The queen then presented Solomon with 9,000 pounds^[b] of gold and a large gift of spices and rare jewels. No other gift of spices given to the king ever compared to the gift the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹³ King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba everything her heart desired (besides the usual royal gift). She then departed and returned to her own country with all those who were in her service.^[c]

¹¹ Hiram’s ships—the ones that transported all the gold from Ophir—also transported a large amount of almug trees and rare jewels. ¹² The king transformed the almug trees into steps for the Eternal’s temple and the palace. He also made lyres and harps for the musicians. Almug trees like these had never before entered Israel, and they never have since.

¹⁴ Solomon received 25 tons of gold each year. ¹⁵ This amount does not include the amount of gold received through taxation of explorers, traders, and merchants and revenue from the Arab kings and provincial governors. ¹⁶ King Solomon crafted 200 large shields, each made from 7½ pounds of hammered gold. ¹⁷ Then he crafted 300 shields made from 60 ounces of hammered gold. He kept them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ He also crafted an ivory throne and covered it with the purest gold. ¹⁹ There were 6 steps leading up to the throne. The back of the throne was rounded, and a lion stood next to each armrest. ²⁰ There were 12 lions on the 6 steps: 6 lions on one side and 6 on the other. Nothing anywhere in the world compared to it. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s cups were made out of gold, and all the cups in the house of the forest of Lebanon were made out of the purest gold as well. Nothing was crafted out of silver because silver was worthless during that time. ²² Tarshish’s ships and Hiram’s ships were out at sea under the rule of Solomon. Tarshish’s ships brought gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks^[d] to Solomon once every 3 years.

²³ King Solomon became mightier than any other king in the entire world. He was wealthy in material and in wisdom. ²⁴ People from around the world wanted to meet the famous Solomon. They desired to learn the wisdom God had planted in his heart. ²⁵ They brought gifts—silver, gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. The gifts accumulated as the years passed.

²⁶ Solomon summoned his chariots and cavalrymen. He commanded 1,400 chariots and 12,000 cavalrymen, and he sent them to the appointed cities (known as chariot cities) or to guard Jerusalem’s king. ²⁷ The king had made silver as common as stones are in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as common as sycamore trees are in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon brought his horses from Egypt^[e] and Kue, and the king’s businessmen paid the people of Kue for the horses. ²⁹ One chariot was bought from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver, and one horse was bought for 60 ounces of silver. Some chariots and horses were then exported to the Hittite and Aramean kings along the route from Kue back to Israel.

11 King Solomon loved countless women from other countries—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites—as well as Pharaoh’s daughter.

² All the countries of the king’s lovers were heathen countries that the Eternal One had warned the Israelites about: “Do not mingle with them, and do not allow them to mingle with you. They will corrupt you and lead you away from Me. They will seduce your hearts to follow their own gods.”^[f] But Solomon clung to these lovers. ³ He had 700 royal wives, as well as 300 mistresses. And his wives and mistresses seduced his heart away from God.

⁴ Solomon followed the Lord during youth and middle age, but when Solomon was an old man, these women seduced him into following other gods. His heart was led astray and no longer completely belonged to the Eternal One, his True God, as his father David’s heart did. ⁵ Solomon pursued Ashtoreth (the Sidonian goddess) and Milcom (the abomination of the Ammonites). ⁶ Solomon abandoned his lifelong integrity and committed evil in the eyes of the Eternal. He did not follow Him completely, as his father David had. ⁷ Instead Solomon constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem for Chemosh (Moab’s horrific idol) and for Molech (the Ammonites’ abhorrence). ⁸ He constructed such sites for all his wives from other countries, so that they would have a place to burn incense and offer sacrifices to their many gods.

⁹ The Eternal boiled with anger toward Solomon because he had allowed his heart to be seduced away from the Eternal One, Israel’s True God, who had appeared to Solomon twice ¹⁰ and had warned him about this very act of faithlessness. But Solomon did not heed His command.

¹⁴ The Eternal brought an enemy against him—Hadad the Edomite, who was a descendant of Edom’s king.

¹⁵ While David was in Edom, Joab, the head of the army, was burying the dead after he had killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ (Joab and all of Israel had remained in Edom for six months until Joab had killed every male in Edom.) ¹⁷ But Hadad ran away to Egypt. Some of the Edomites who guarded Hadad’s father traveled with Hadad in order to look after him because he was only a boy at the time. ¹⁸ They traveled from Midian and arrived at Paran. They gathered men from Paran to journey with them, and they arrived in Egypt. They went to Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, and he provided Hadad with a place to stay and with food. Pharaoh also gave him his own land; he treated Hadad as family. ¹⁹ Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he offered his sister-in-law to Hadad to marry. She was the sister of the queen, Tahpenes. ²⁰ Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to Hadad’s son, whom they called Genubath. Tahpenes weaned Genubath in Pharaoh’s house where he stayed and grew up with Pharaoh’s sons. ²¹ When Hadad received word in Egypt that David had left this world to sleep with his fathers and that Joab, the head of the army, was also dead, he made a special request to Pharaoh.

²³ The True God brought another enemy against Solomon—Rezon (Eliada’s son) who ran away from his lord Hadadezer (Zobah’s king). ²⁴ After David killed the people of Zobah, Rezon formed a band of thieves and acted as its leader. The band of thieves traveled to Damascus, the capital of Aram, and ruled there. ²⁵ Rezon was Israel’s perpetual enemy during Solomon’s reign, in addition to all that Hadad did. Rezon despised Israel and ruled Aram.

²⁶ Solomon had a servant named Jeroboam whose mother, Zeruah, was a widow. His father was Nebat (an Ephraimite from Zeredah). Jeroboam grew resentful and rebelled against his king, Solomon, and became one of his enemies. ²⁷ This is the reason Jeroboam rebelled against the king: Solomon constructed the Millo and sealed up the gap in the wall of his father’s city—the city of David. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a strong and fierce warrior. Solomon recognized that Jeroboam was a hard worker and put him in charge of all the workers from Joseph’s tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.

²⁹ When Jeroboam was traveling outside of Jerusalem, he encountered the prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite, on the road. Ahijah was dressed in a new robe, and there was no one else anywhere around except for him and Jeroboam. ³⁰ Ahijah then did something unexpected. He pulled his new robe off his body and tore it into a dozen pieces.

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam because of this, but Jeroboam ran away to Egypt to seek shelter with Shishak, Egypt’s king. Jeroboam remained in Egypt until Solomon died.

⁴¹ Is not the rest of Solomon’s story—his actions and his wisdom—documented in the book of the acts of Solomon?

⁴² In all Solomon ruled over Jerusalem for 40 years. ⁴³ Solomon left this world to sleep with his fathers. He was laid to rest in his father’s city, the city of David. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, then inherited the throne.

9 The queen of Sheba entered Jerusalem with an impressive entourage and camels carrying spices, a large amount of gold, and gems. She had heard about Solomon’s famous wisdom, so she came to ask him difficult questions that addressed her personal concerns. ² Solomon answered these questions openly and honestly where nothing about the queen was hidden from Solomon’s knowledge. ^3-4 His wisdom and frankness impressed and astonished the queen, as did the palace, the meal, the servants, the guests and their clothing, the cupbearers and their clothing, and the stairway^[a] that led to the Eternal’s temple. After viewing all these things, the queen was mesmerized and breathless.

⁹ The queen of Sheba gave to Solomon in recognition of his prestige 9,000 pounds of gold, vast quantities of gems, and a large amount of spices previously unknown in Israel. ¹⁰ When Solomon’s and Huram’s servants had brought gold from the land of Ophir, they also brought algum wood and costly gems. ¹¹ Solomon had used this non-native algum wood to build the steps to the Eternal’s temple and the king’s palace and to make lyres and harps for the musicians. These were all unmatched by anything that had existed in the land of Judah.

¹² Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all that she had traveled to Israel to receive, in addition to gifts equaling those that she brought to him. Contented with her visit, the queen returned home with her servants.

¹³ Annually Solomon received about 25 tons of gold ¹⁴ in addition to what the traders and merchants brought. The Arabian kings and the local governors also brought gold and silver to him.

¹⁵ Solomon used some of this metal to make weapons: 200 large shields (each weighing 7½ pounds of beaten gold) ¹⁶ and 300 small, rounded shields (each weighing 3¾ pounds of beaten gold). All the shields were stored in the house made of wood imported from Lebanon.

¹⁷ Solomon then constructed a large ivory throne and gilded it. ^18-19 At the base of the throne were 6 steps and a golden footstool, and at the sides were armrests. The throne was guarded by 14 lions: one next to each armrest, and one on either side of each step. This throne was unlike any other monarch’s throne.

²⁰ In King Solomon’s house, made of wood from Lebanon, the drinking cups and dishes were of gold (since silver was not recognized as a precious metal in Solomon’s days).

²¹ Both Solomon and Huram owned ships which traded with the coastal city of Tarshish every three years, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks^[b] into Israel. ²² All this made King Solomon richer than all other monarchs, and his wisdom was equally immeasurable. ²³ All the kings of the earth wanted an audience with King Solomon, to hear the wisdom which God bestowed upon him, as the queen of Sheba had. ²⁴ Each visitor brought gifts to Solomon every year: silver, gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁵ Solomon’s horses and chariots stayed in 4,000 stalls along with the 12,000 horsemen who resided with him in Jerusalem or in Israel’s other fortified cities.

²⁶ During his reign, Solomon ruled the region between the Euphrates River in the east and to the land of the Philistines all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and southward to north of the border of Egypt. ²⁷ He made Jerusalem so wealthy that silver was as common as stones in the rocky regions and cedars were as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowland. ²⁸ Solomon also imported and was given expensive horses from Egypt and from other countries.

²⁹ The actions of King Solomon, from his birth until his death, are recorded in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer (specifically those concerning Jeroboam, son of Nebat).

³⁰ Solomon’s rule over all Israel lasted 40 years—during which time he governed from his capital city, Jerusalem. ³¹ And after he joined with his ancestors in death and was laid with his father, our beloved King David, in Jerusalem, Solomon’s son Rehoboam ruled Israel in his place.