1. Solomon’s Achievements

ch8 ¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house, ² That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³ And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴ And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵ Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Bethhoron the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶ And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. ⁷ As for] all the people [that were] left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which [were] not of Israel, ⁸ But] of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. ⁹ But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they [were] men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰ And these [were] the chief of king Solomon's officers, [even] two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.

¹¹ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because [the places are] holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come. ¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch, ¹³ Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, [even] in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴ And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. ¹⁵ And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. [So] the house of the LORD was perfected. ¹⁷ Then went Solomon to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought [them] to king Solomon.

2. The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

ch9 ¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.

³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴ And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ And she said to the king, [It was] a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: ⁶ Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen [it]: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: [for] thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

⁷ Happy [are] thy men, and happy [are] these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, [to be] king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

⁹ And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ¹⁰ And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made [of] the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside [that] which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

3. Solomon’s Wealth and Wisdom

¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ¹⁴ Beside [that which] chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets [of] beaten gold: six hundred [shekels] of beaten gold went to one target. ¹⁶ And three hundred shields [made he of] beaten gold: three hundred [shekels] of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ And [there were] six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, [which were] fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays: ¹⁹ And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰ And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon [were of] gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon [were of] pure gold: none [were of] silver; it was [not] any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²² And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶ And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that [are] in the low plains in abundance. ²⁸ And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

4. The Death of Solomon

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, [are] they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.