Old Testament

New Testament

1 Kings 10:8-27 Modern English Version (MEV)

8. Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

9. Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”

10. She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11. The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones.

12. The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.

13. King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

14. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold.

15. In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.

16. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels of gold each.

17. He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18. The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold.

19. The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests.

20. Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom.

21. All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

22. For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom.

24. All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

25. Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

26. Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem.

27. The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley.

Read complete chapter 1 Kings 10