The Riches and Honor of Solomon Among the Nations
2 Chronicles 8 – 9
2 Chronicles 8 – 9
CHAPTER 8
1 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house, 2 that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah, and overcame it. 4 And he built Tadmor, in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath. 5 And he built upper Beth-Horon and lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; 6 and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for chariots, and the cities for the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and on Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7 All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, 8 their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed, upon them did Solomon impose tribute-service until this day. 9 But of the children of Israel, of them did Solomon make no bondmen for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and his horsemen. 10 And these were the chief of king Solomon’s superintendents, two hundred and fifty, that ruled over the people. 11 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy to which the ark of Jehovah has come. 12 Then Solomon offered up burnt-offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch; 13 even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and at the set feasts, three times in the year, — at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. 14 And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their charges, to praise and serve before the priests, as the duty of every day required; and the doorkeepers by their divisions at every gate: for such was the commandment of David the man of God; 15 and they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and the Levites concerning any matter, nor concerning the treasures. 16 And all the work of Solomon was prepared, to the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah and to its completion. So the house of Jehovah was finished. 17 Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18 And Huram sent him by his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.
CHAPTER 9
1 And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and came to Jerusalem to prove Solomon with enigmas; with a very great train, and camels that bore spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon, and spoke with him of all that was in her heart. 2 And Solomon explained to her all she spoke of, and there was not a thing hidden from Solomon that he did not explain to her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 4 and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her. 5 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs and of thy wisdom; 6 but I gave no credit to their words, until I came and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the report that I heard. 7 Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom! 8 Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king to Jehovah thy God! Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore did he make thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. 9 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones; neither was there any such spice as that which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 10 (And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood and precious stones. 11 And the king made of the sandal-wood stairs for the house of Jehovah, and for the king’s house, and harps and lutes for the singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.) 12 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. And she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants. 13 And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14 besides what dealers and merchants brought, and what all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought of gold and silver to Solomon. 15 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold, — he applied six hundred shekels of beaten gold to one target; 16 and three hundred shields of beaten gold, — he applied three hundred shekels of gold to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 17 And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold; 18 and the throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold fastened to the throne; and there were arms on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the arms; 19 and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 20 And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold: silver was not of the least account in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: once in three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. 22 And king Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year. 25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 26 And he ruled over all the kings from the river as far as the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt. 27 And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance. 28 And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands. 29 And the rest of the acts of Solomon first and last, are they not written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.