20. Twelve lions were standing there, six on each of the six steps on either side; nothing like this was made for any of the kingdoms.
21. All of the drinking vessels of King Solomon were gold, and all the vessels for the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver; it was not considered as something valuable in the days of Solomon.
22. For the fleet of Tarshish belonged to the king and was on the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come carrying gold and silver, ivory, apes, and baboons.
23. King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom.
24. All of the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.
25. They were each bringing his gift; objects of silver and objects of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This used to happen year after year.
26. Solomon gathered chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem.
27. The king made the silver in Jerusalem as the stones, and the cedars he made as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah in abundance.
28. The import of the horses which were Solomon’s was from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received horses from Kue at a price.
29. A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver shekels and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.