1 Kings 10
A Queen Came from Far to Hear His Wisdom
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The Queen of Sheba
10:1The queen of Sheba heard Solomon’s name and the Lord’s name, and came to test him with riddles.
10:2She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came in to Solomon and spoke to him about everything in her heart.
10:3Solomon explained all her matters to her. No matter was overlooked by the king that he did not explain to her.
10:4When the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s discernment and the house he had built,
10:5Solomon’s food, the seating of his attendants, the station of his ministers, his clothing, his wine-pourers, and his whole burnt offering which he offered in the Lord’s house, she was beside herself.
10:6She said to King Solomon, “The report I heard in my land about your word and your discernment is true.
10:7I did not believe those speaking to me until I arrived and my eyes saw. Look, it is not half as they reported to me! You have added good things beyond them, beyond every report I heard in my land.
10:8Blessed are your women! Blessed are these attendants of yours who stand before you continually, hearing all your discernment!
10:9Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on Israel’s throne! Because the Lord loves Israel, to establish them forever, He made you king over them to carry out judgment in righteousness and in their judgments.”
10:10She gave Solomon a hundred twenty talents of gold, very many spices, and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
10:11Hiram’s ship, which carried gold from Souphir, also brought a very great quantity of unhewn wood and precious stones.
10:12The king made the unhewn wood into supports for the Lord’s house and the king’s house, and into harps and lyres for the singers. No such unhewn wood has come upon the earth or been seen anywhere to this day.
10:13King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides everything he had given her through King Solomon’s hand. Then she returned and went to her land, she and all her attendants.
The Gold and the Shields of Solomon
10:14The weight of gold coming to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,
10:15besides the tribute of the subject peoples, the merchants, all the kings of the region beyond, and the satraps of the land.
10:16Solomon made three hundred spears of hammered gold; three hundred gold pieces went onto each spear.
10:17He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold were in each shield. He placed them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
The Great Ivory Throne
10:18The king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with tested gold.
10:19The throne had six steps, foreparts of calves behind it, and arms on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms.
10:20Twelve lions stood on the six steps, on either side. Nothing like it had been made for any kingdom.
10:21All Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and the basins were gold. All the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were encased in gold. None were silver, because silver was not valued in Solomon’s days.
10:22For the king had a Tarshish ship at sea with Hiram’s ships. Once every three years a ship came to the king from Tarshish with gold, silver, and engraved and hewn stones.
The Levy from the Remaining Peoples
10:22aThis was the undertaking for the spoil which King Solomon brought up: to build the Lord’s house, the king’s house, Jerusalem’s wall, and the citadel, to enclose the enclosure of the City of David; also Assour, Magdan, Gezer, Upper Beth-horon, Iethermath, all the chariot cities, all the horsemen’s cities, and Solomon’s undertaking which he undertook to build in Jerusalem and throughout the land, so that there might not rule over him
10:22bany of the people remaining from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites, who were not of the sons of Israel—their children remaining after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had been unable to destroy. Solomon subjected them to tribute, as it remains to this day.
10:22cBut Solomon put none of the sons of Israel into labor, because they were his warriors and attendants, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.
Solomon Surpasses All the Kings of the Earth
10:23Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and discernment.
10:24All the kings of the earth sought Solomon’s presence to hear the discernment the Lord had put in his heart.
10:25Each brought his gifts: gold vessels, clothing, stacte, spices, horses, and mules, year after year.
The Chariots and the Horses
10:26Solomon had four thousand mares for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He placed the mares in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
10:26aHe ruled over all the kings from the River to the land of the foreigners and to Egypt’s borders.
10:27The king made gold and silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamores in the plain.
10:28Solomon’s horses came from Egypt and from Thekoue; the king’s merchants obtained them from Thekoue in exchange.
10:29The export from Egypt came up: a chariot for a hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for fifty pieces of silver. In this way they went out by sea for all the Hittite kings and the kings of Syria.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.