¹⁰ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ Hiram’s fleet, which used to bring gold from Ophir, also brought from there a very large quantity of almug^[a] wood and precious stones. ¹² With this wood the king made supports for the house of the Lord and for the house of the king, and harps and lyres for the singers. Never again was any such almug wood brought or seen to the present day.

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides what King Solomon gave her from Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.

Solomon’s Riches: Domestic Affairs.^{[b] 14 (A)}The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents, ¹⁵ in addition to what came from the tolls on travelers, from the traffic of merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country. ^16 (B)King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold (six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield) ¹⁷ and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three minas of gold went into each buckler); and the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ The king made a large ivory throne, and overlaid it with refined gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, a back with a round top, and an arm on each side of the seat, with two lions standing next to the arms, ²⁰ and twelve other lions standing there on the steps, two to a step, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this was made in any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils in the house of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon’s time silver was reckoned as nothing. ²² For the king had a fleet of Tarshish ships^[c] 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.

Solomon’s Renown. 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.

Chapter 11

The End of Solomon’s Reign.^{[a] 1 (A)}King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites— ^2 (B)from nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites: You shall not join with them and they shall not join with you, lest they turn your hearts to their gods. But Solomon held them^[b] close in love. ³ He had as wives seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and they turned his heart.

⁴ When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to follow other gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not follow the Lord unreservedly as David his father had done. ⁷ Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

^26 (A)Did not Solomon, the king of Israel, sin because of them? Though among the many nations there was no king like him, and though he was beloved of his God and God had made him king over all Israel, yet even he was led into sin by foreign women.