8. Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy!
9. May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.”
10. She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.
11. (Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a very large quantity of fine timber and precious gems.
12. With the timber the king made supports for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace and stringed instruments for the musicians. No one has seen so much of this fine timber to this very day.)
13. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, besides what he had freely offered her. Then she left and returned to her homeland with her attendants.
14. Solomon received 666 talents of gold per year,
15. besides what he collected from the merchants, traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land.
16. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of gold were used for each shield.
17. He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.
18. The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
19. There were six steps leading up to the throne, and the back of it was rounded on top. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.
20. There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.