16. Solomon also made 300 small shields of hammered gold. Each shield contained about 4 pounds of gold. King Solomon put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
17. Then he built a large throne of ivory. And he covered it with pure gold.
18. The throne had six steps on it. And it had a gold footstool on it. There were armrests on both sides of the chair. And beside each armrest was a statue of a lion.
19. Twelve lions stood on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any other kingdom.
20. All King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold. All of the dishes in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. In Solomon’s time people did not think silver was valuable. So nothing was made of silver.
21. King Solomon had many ships that he sent out to trade. Hiram’s men sailed Solomon’s ships. Every three years the ships returned. They brought back gold, silver, ivory, apes and baboons.
22. King Solomon had more riches and wisdom than all the other kings on earth.
23. All the kings of the earth came to see Solomon. They wanted to hear the wisdom God had given him.
24. Every year everyone who came brought a gift. They brought things made of silver and gold, clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.
25. Solomon had 4,000 stalls to hold his horses and chariots. He had 12,000 horses. He kept them in special cities for the chariots. And he kept some with him in Jerusalem.
26. Solomon was king over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the Philistine country to the border of Egypt.
27. In Jerusalem silver was as common as stones while Solomon was king. Cedar trees were as common as the fig trees growing on the western mountain slopes.
28. Solomon imported horses from Egypt and all other countries.
29. The other things Solomon did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the writings of Nathan the prophet. And they are in the prophecy of Ahijah and the visions of Iddo. Ahijah was from Shiloh. Iddo was a seer who wrote about Jeroboam, Nebat’s son.
30. Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years.
31. Then Solomon died and was buried in Jerusalem. This was the city of his father David. And Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king in his place.