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New Testament
2 Chronicles 9:13-28
Solomon's Wealth
13The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents,[] 14not counting what the traders and merchants were bringing. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land also kept bringing gold and silver to Solomon.
15King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. Seven and a half pounds[] of hammered gold went into each shield. 16He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold. Almost four pounds[] of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
17The king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. 18There were six steps up to the throne. A golden footstool was attached to the throne, and there were armrests on either side of the seat. There were two lions standing beside the armrests 19and twelve lions standing on the steps, one on each end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.
20All of King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold. All the utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold.[] Silver was not thought to be worth anything in the days of Solomon, 21because the king's ships would go to Tarshish[] with the servants of Huram, and once every three years the Tarshish ships would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.[]
22King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. 23All the kings of the earth were seeking an audience with Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24Each of them would bring his gift: articles of silver and gold, clothing, scents,[] spices, horses, and mules, year after year.
25Solomon had four thousand teams[] of horses and chariots and twelve thousand charioteers. He stationed them in the chariot cities and in Jerusalem with him.
26He was ruling over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, to the border of Egypt.
27The king made silver in Jerusalem as plentiful as ordinary stones, and the cedars were like the sycamore fig trees, which are so abundant in the Shephelah.[]
28Horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands.
Footnotes
- 9:13 Almost fifty thousand pounds
- 9:15 The Hebrew reads six hundred ___ of gold. Six hundred bekas would be seven and a half pounds, but the Hebrew text supplies no unit of measure. If the unit of measurement is the shekel, the weight in pounds would double.
- 9:16 The Hebrew reads three hundred ____ of gold. The parallel in 1 Kings 10:17 reads three minas. A mina is sixty or perhaps fifty shekels. The ratio of bekas to minas supports the idea that the weight here is bekas.
- 9:20 Literally closed gold. Perhaps this means gold plate, but most translators think it means pure gold.
- 9:21 Or the king had ships that could go to Tarshish. In other passages Tarshish is located on the Mediterranean Sea, but everything in this passage points to trade on the Red Sea. In that case, this phrase refers to the type of ship, not to the destination. Or there may be an otherwise unknown Tarshish on the Red Sea.
- 9:21 Or apes or baboons
- 9:24 Or tools and weapons
- 9:25 Or stalls
- 9:27 That is, the western foothills