2 Chronicles 9:1-12

Living Bible

9 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fabled wisdom, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. A very great retinue of aides and servants accompanied her, including camel loads of spices, gold, and jewels. ² And Solomon answered all her problems. Nothing was hidden from him; he could explain everything to her. ³ When she discovered how wise he really was, and how breathtaking the beauty of his palace, ⁴ and how wonderful the food at his tables, and how many servants and aides he had, and when she saw their spectacular uniforms and his stewards in full regalia, and saw the size of the men in his bodyguard, she could scarcely believe it!

⁵ Finally she exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard about you in my own country is true! ⁶ I didn’t believe it until I got here and saw it with my own eyes. Your wisdom is far greater than I could ever have imagined. ⁷ What a privilege for these men of yours to stand here and listen to you talk! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God! How he must love Israel to give them a just king like you! He wants them to be a great, strong nation forever.”

⁹ She gave the king a gift of over a million dollars in gold, and great quantities of spices of incomparable quality, and many, many jewels.

¹⁰ King Hiram’s and King Solomon’s crews brought gold from Ophir, also sandalwood and jewels. ¹¹ The king used the sandalwood to make terraced steps for the Temple and the palace and to construct harps and lyres for the choir. Never before had there been such beautiful instruments in all the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba gifts of the same value as she had brought to him, plus everything else she asked for! Then she and her retinue returned to their own land.