22. For the king had a fleet of Tarshish ships at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23. Thus King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
24. And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart.
25. They all brought their yearly tribute: vessels of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules—what was due each year.
26. Solomon amassed chariots and horses; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king’s service in Jerusalem.
27. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the Shephelah.
28. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Cilicia, where the king’s merchants purchased them.
29. A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, a horse one hundred and fifty shekels; they were exported at these rates to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.