2 Chronicles 9

The AIT Bible

The Queen of Sheba's Visit

1Now the queen of Sheba heard the report of Solomon, and she came to test Solomon with riddles at Jerusalem, with a very heavy retinue, and camels bearing spices and gold in abundance and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was on her heart.

2And Solomon told her all her matters, and nothing was hidden from Solomon that he did not tell her.

3When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

4and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their attire, and his cupbearers and their attire, and his ascent by which he would go up to the house of Yahweh, there was no more spirit in her.

5And she said to the king, “True was the report that I heard in my land about your affairs and about your wisdom.

6But I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes saw; and behold, not half of the greatness of your wisdom was told to me. You surpass the report that I heard.

7Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!

8Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne as king for Yahweh your God! Because your God loved Israel, to establish it forever, he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.

9Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones; there had never been such spice as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10Moreover, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones.

11And the king made of the algum wood stairways for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; and the like had not been seen before in the land of Judah.

12And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

Solomon's Great Wealth

13Now the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

14besides what the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land were bringing gold and silver to Solomon.

15And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each large shield.

16And three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three hundred shekels of gold went into each small shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

17And the king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.

18And there were six steps to the throne, and a footstool of gold attached to the throne, and armrests on each side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

19And twelve lions stood there on the six steps, on each side; nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.

20And all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not reckoned as anything in the days of Solomon.

21For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once in three years the ships of Tarshish would come, bearing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

22So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

23And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart.

24And they would bring each his gift: articles of silver and articles of gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

25And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

26And he was ruling over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.

27And the king made silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedars he made as plentiful as the sycamores that are in the Shephelah.

28And they kept bringing out horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands.

The Death of Solomon

29Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to 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 son of Nebat?

30And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

31And Solomon lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

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