Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor

(2 Chronicles 1:14–17, 2 Chronicles 9:13–28)

14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents,[fn] 15 not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold [fn] went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold [fn] went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

21 All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had the ships of Tarshish [fn] at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.[fn]

23 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 24 The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, each visitor would bring his tribute: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

26 Solomon accumulated [fn] 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses,[fn] which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.[fn]

28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue;[fn] the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. 29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver,[fn] and a horse for a hundred and fifty.[fn] Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.