16. He also made three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold, each of which contained about four pounds of gold. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
17. The king built a large throne of ivory and covered it with pure gold.
18. The throne had six steps on it and a gold footstool. There were armrests on both sides of the chair, and each armrest had a lion beside it.
19. Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any other kingdom.
20. All of Solomon’s drinking cups, as well as the dishes in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, were made of pure gold. In Solomon’s time people did not think silver was valuable.
21. King Solomon had many ships that he sent out to trade, with Hiram’s men as the crews. Every three years the ships returned, bringing 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 wanted to see Solomon and listen to the wisdom God had given him.
24. Year after year everyone who came brought gifts of silver and gold, clothes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
25. Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and he had twelve thousand horses. He kept some in special cities for the chariots, and others he kept with him in Jerusalem.