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10 The Queen of Sheba gave Solomon more than four tons of gold, many jewels, and more spices than anyone had ever brought into Israel.

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10 And she gave the king 120 talents[a] of gold,(A) large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 10:10 That is, about 4 1/2 tons or about 4 metric tons

14 Solomon received almost 23 tons of gold a year. 15 The merchants and traders, as well as the kings of Arabia and rulers from Israel, also gave him gold.

16 Solomon made 200 gold shields and used almost seven kilograms of gold for each one. 17 He also made 300 smaller gold shields, using almost two kilograms for each one, and he put the shields in his palace in Forest Hall.

18 His throne was made of ivory and covered with pure gold. 19-20 The back of the throne was rounded at the top, and it had armrests on each side. There was a statue of a lion on both sides of the throne, and there was a statue of a lion at both ends of each of the six steps leading up to the throne. No other throne in the world was like Solomon's.

21 Since silver was almost worthless in those days, everything was made of gold, even the cups and dishes used in Forest Hall.

22 Solomon had a lot of seagoing ships.[a] Every three years he sent them out with Hiram's ships to bring back gold, silver, and ivory, as well as monkeys and peacocks.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 10.22 seagoing ships: The Hebrew text has “ships of Tarshish,” which may have been a Phoenician city in Spain. “Ships of Tarshish” probably means large, seagoing ships.
  2. 10.22 peacocks: Or “baboons.”

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.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 10:14 That is, about 25 tons or about 23 metric tons
  2. 1 Kings 10:16 That is, about 15 pounds or about 6.9 kilograms; also in verse 29
  3. 1 Kings 10:17 That is, about 3 3/4 pounds or about 1.7 kilograms; or perhaps reference is to double minas, that is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms.
  4. 1 Kings 10:22 Hebrew of ships of Tarshish