The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon
1
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to
prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company,
and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and
when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her
heart.
2
And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from
Solomon which he told her not.
The queen of Sheba heard about how great Solomon was, so she decided to come see for herself.
3
And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house
that he had built,
4
And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the
attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and
their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the
LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
Solomon answered all of her questions, and she was impressed with his wisdom, nice house,
food, clothes, and servants.
5
And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own
land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
6
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen
it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told
me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
She said to Solomon,
You are as wise, rich, and famous as I'd heard.
7
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand
continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Your servants are lucky to serve you.
8
Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his
throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to
establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do
judgment and justice.
God must love you a lot to give you so much stuff.
9
And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices
great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as
the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.
The queen of Sheba was so impressed with Solomon that she gave him 120 talents of gold [
1] and lots of
spices and precious stones.
10
And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought
gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.
11
And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD,
and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there
were none such seen before in the land of Judah.
(Huram also gave Solomon more gold and plenty of algum trees and precious stones.
Solomon used the algum trees as pillars in God's house and to make harps for the singers.
No one has ever seen such algum trees before or since.)
12
And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she
asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and
went away to her own land, she and her servants.
Solomon gave the queen of Sheba whatever she wanted from his royal bounty.
Then she went home.
13
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred
and threescore and six talents of gold;
14
Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of
Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
Every year, Solomon received
666 talents of gold. [
2]
15
And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred
shekels of beaten gold went to one target.
From all the gold and whatnot, Solomon made:
200 gold targets, each weighing 600 shekels. [3]
16
And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of
gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of
Lebanon.
300 gold shields, each weighing three hundred shekels.
17
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure
gold.
18
And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which
were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place,
and two lions standing by the stays:
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.
An ivory throne, overlaid with gold, with 14 (?) lions standing nearby.
There wasn't another throne like it in any kingdom.
20
And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the
vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were
of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
And gold drinking cups, none were made of silver.
21
For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every
three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver,
ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
Solomon had a navy that brought him lots of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22
And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
He was wiser and had more stuff than all the kings of the earth.
23
And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his
wisdom, that God had put in his heart.
Everyone on earth came to Solomon, to hear the wisdom that God put in his heart.
24
And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of
gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by
year.
Every year, everyone brought him presents of silver, gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules.
25
And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand
horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at
Jerusalem.
26
And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the
Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.
He had 4000 stalls for horses [
4] and 12,000 horsemen.
27
And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he
as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.
28
And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.
When Solomon was king, silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as sycamore trees.
29
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written
in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the
Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of
Nebat?
30
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
Solomon was king of Israel for
40 years.
31
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David
his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Then he died.
Notes
- She gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold (v.9)
This seems to be the standard large amount of gold in 1 Kings, since it's the same amount that
king Hiram gave to Solomon in 1 Kg 9:14. It would be about four metric tons of gold, worth
160 million U.S. dollars today.
- Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred
and threescore and six talents of gold. (v.13)
666 talents of gold would be about 22 metric tons, which would be worth around 900 million U.S. dollars today.
Solomon supposedly received this amount (666 talents) of gold each year!
- Six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. (v.16)
A shekel is about 11 g, so each target 6.6 kg. Two hundred of these would require 1.32 metric tons of gold.
- Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses. (v.25)
How many stalls did Solomon have?
- Christian Response
- SAB Author Answered