The Queen of Sheba
1 The fame of Solomon having reached the queen of Sheba, she came to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She came with immense riches, camels loaded with spi ces, great quantities of gold and precious stones. On coming to Solomon, she asked him all the questions that she had in mind,
2 and Solomon had an answer for all her questions, not one was too difficult for him to explain.
3 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built,
4 the food at his table, the ac com modations for his officials, the organization of his staff and the way they were dressed, his cupbearers and the burnt offerings he offered in the Temple of Yahweh, it left her breathless;
5 and she said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom was true, then!
6 I could not believe what they told me was not even half of your wisdom for the reality surpasses what I heard.
7 How happy your wives are! How happy these servants of yours who wait on you always and hear your wisdom!
8 Blessed be Yahweh your God who loves you and made you king to rule in his name. Because your God loves Israel and wants to preserve them forever, he has made you their king to administer law and justice.”
9 And the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon almost five tons of gold and great quantities of spices and precious stones. There never were spices like those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solo mon.
10 Similarly the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who carried gold from Ophir, brought algummim wood and precious stones.
11 Of the algummim wood the king made floorboards for Yahweh’s House and for the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the musicians; nothing like them had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.
12 And King Solomon, in his turn, gave the queen of Sheba everything she ex pressed any wish for, besides returning what she had brought to the king. Then she went home, she and her servants, to her own country.
13 The weight of gold coming to Solo mon in one year was over twenty-five tons,
14 not counting the taxes paid by the traders and merchants; all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country also brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 King Solo mon made two hundred great shields of beaten gold, and plated each shield with about fifteen pounds of gold,
16 and also three hundred small shields of beaten gold, and plated each of these with about eight pounds of gold; and he put them in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
17 The king also made a great ivory throne and plated it with purest gold.
18 The throne had six steps, with a platform behind and arms at either side of the seat; two lions stood beside the arms,
19 and twelve lions stood on either side of the six steps. No throne like this was ever made in any other kingdom.
20 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the furnishings in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered valuable in the time of Solo mon.
21 And the king also had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s men, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would come back bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes and baboons.
22 King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world.
23 All the kings of the earth consulted Solomon to hear the wisdom God had given him,
24 and each would bring his own present: gold vessels, silver vessels, robes, armor, spices, horses and mules; and this went on year after year.
25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for his horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses; these were stationed in the chariot towns and near the king in Jerusalem.
26 Solomon extended his power over all the kingdoms from the river to the land of the Phil istines and the Egyptian border.
27 In Jerusalem the king made silver as common as stone, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamores of the Lowlands.
28 Horses were imported for Solomon from Cilicia and all the other countries too.
29 The rest of the history of Solomon, from first to last, is recorded in the History of Nathan the prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the Vision of Iddo, the seer concerning Jero boam son of Nebat.
30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
31 Then Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father; his son Rehoboam succeeded him.