Text -- 1 Kings 10:18-29 (NET)

10:18 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 10:19 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. 10:20 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. 10:21 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. 10:22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet came into port with cargoes of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 10:23 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth. 10:24 Everyone in the world wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. 10:25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. 10:26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. 10:27 The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands. 10:28 Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que. 10:29 They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:19

¹ tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:20

¹ tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for all the kingdoms.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:21

¹ tn Heb “there was no silver, it was not regarded as anything in the days of Solomon.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:22

¹ tn Heb “a fleet of Tarshish [ships].” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

² tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”

³ tn Heb “came carrying.”

⁴ tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Some suggest “baboons.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:23

¹ tn Heb “King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and with respect to wisdom.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:24

¹ tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta have “all the kings of the earth.” See 2 Chr 9:23.

² tn Heb “and all the earth was seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:25

¹ tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:26

¹ tn Or “gathered.”

² tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”

map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:27

¹ tn The words “as plentiful” are added for clarification.

² tn Heb “he made.”

³ tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:28

¹ sn From Egypt. Because Que is also mentioned, some prefer to see in vv. 28-29 a reference to Mutsur. Que and Mutsur were located in Cilicia/Cappadocia (in modern southern Turkey). See HALOT 625 s.v. מִצְרַיִם.

NET Notes: 1Ki 10:29

¹ tn Heb “and a chariot went up and came out of Egypt for six hundred silver [pieces], and a horse for one hundred fifty, and in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram by their hand they brought out.”