9:13 Solomon received 666 talents 1 of gold per year, 2 9:14 besides what he collected from the merchants 3 and traders. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon. 9:15 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures 4 of hammered gold were used for each shield. 9:16 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures 5 of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest. 6
9:17 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 9:18 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne. 7 The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side. 8 9:19 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. 9
9:20 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 9:21 The king had a fleet of large merchant ships 11 manned by Huram’s men 12 that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet 13 came into port with cargoes of 14 gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 15
9:22 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth. 16 9:23 All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. 17 9:24 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. 18
9:25 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses 19 and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. 20 9:26 He ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River 21 to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. 9:27 The king made silver as plentiful 22 in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was 23 as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands 24 . 9:28 Solomon acquired horses from Egypt and from all the lands.
1 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold Solomon received annually was 44,822 lbs. (20,380 kg).
2 tn Heb “the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 units of gold.”
3 tn Heb “traveling men.”
4 tn The Hebrew text has simply “600,” with no unit of measure given.
5 tn The Hebrew text has simply “300,” with no unit of measure given.
6 sn This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest. See 1 Kgs 7:2.
7 tc The parallel text of 1 Kgs 10:19 has instead “and the back of it was rounded on top.”
8 tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”
9 tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for any kingdom.”
10 tn Heb “there was no silver, it was not regarded as anything in the days of Solomon.”
11 tn Heb “for ships belonging to the king were going [to] Tarshish with the servants of Huram.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.
12 tn Heb “servants.”
13 tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”
14 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish came carrying.”
15 tn The meaning of this word is unclear; some suggest it refers to “baboons.” NEB has “monkeys,” NASB, NRSV “peacocks,” and NIV “baboons.”
16 tn Heb “King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom.”
17 tn Heb “and all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart.”
18 tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”
19 tc The parallel text of 1 Kgs 10:26 reads “fourteen hundred chariots.”
20 tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”
21 tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew the Euphrates River was typically referred to simply as “the River.”
22 tn The words “as plentiful” are supplied for clarification.
23 tn Heb “he made cedar.”
24 tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”