The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 When the queen of Sh'va heard what was being said about Shlomo because of the name of ADONAI, she came to test him with difficult questions.
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Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions.
2 She arrived in Yerushalayim accompanied by a very great retinue, including camels bearing spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones. When she appeared before Shlomo she spoke with him about everything on her heart,
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And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels weighted down with spices, and stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.
3 and Shlomo answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.
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And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which the king did not make clear to her.
4 After the queen of Sh'va had seen all Shlomo's wisdom, the palace he had built,
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And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made,
5 the food at his table, the manner of seating his officials, the manner in which his staff served him, how they were dressed, his personal servants and his burnt offering which he offered in the house of ADONAI, it left her breathless.
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And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
6 She said to the king, "What I heard in my own country about your deeds and your wisdom is true,
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And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true.
7 but I couldn't believe the report until I came and saw for myself. Actually, they didn't tell me even the half of it - your wisdom and prosperity surpass the reports I heard.
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But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and now I see that it was not half the story; your wisdom and your wealth are much greater than they said.
8 How happy your people must be, how happy these servants of yours who are always here attending you and get to hear your wisdom!
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Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.
9 Blessed be ADONAI your God, who took pleasure in you to put you on the throne of Isra'el. Because of ADONAI's eternal love for Isra'el, he has made you king, to administer judgment and justice fairly."
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May the Lord your God be praised, whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; because the Lord's love for Israel is eternal, he has made you king, to be their judge in righteousness.
10 Then she gave the king four tons of gold, a huge amount of spices, and precious stones; never again did there arrive such an abundance of spices as those the queen of Sh'va gave to King Shlomo.
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And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never again was such a wealth of spices seen as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
11 Hiram's fleet which had brought gold from Ofir now brought in from Ofir a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones.
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And the sea-force of Hiram, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with much sandal-wood and jewels.
12 The king used the sandalwood to make columns for the house of ADONAI and for the royal palace, and also lyres and lutes for the singers. No sandalwood like it has come or been seen to this day.
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And from the sandal-wood the king made pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody: never has such sandal-wood been seen to this day.
13 King Shlomo gave the queen of Sh'va everything she wanted, whatever she asked, in addition to the presents he gave her on his own initiative. After this, she returned and went back to her own country, she and her servants.
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And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what he gave her freely from the impulse of his heart. So she went back to her country, she and her servants.
14 The weight of the gold Shlomo received annually came to twenty-two tons of gold,
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Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents;
15 besides that which came from sales taxes, customs duties and assessments collected by all the kings of the mixed peoples and by the district governors.
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In addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country.
16 King Shlomo made 200 large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into one shield.
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And Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.
17 He made 300 more shields of hammered gold, with three-and-three-quarters pounds going into one shield; the king put these in the House of the L'vanon Forest.
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And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, with three pounds of gold in every cover: and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
18 The king also made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.
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Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.
19 The throne had six steps, a back with a rounded top, arms on either side of the seat, two lions standing beside the arms,
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There were six steps going up to it, and the top of it was round at the back, there were arms on the two sides of the seat, and two lions by the side of the arms;
20 and twelve more lions standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any kingdom.
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And twelve lions were placed on the one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
21 All King Shlomo's drinking vessels were of gold; and all the utensils in the House of the L'vanon Forest were of pure gold; none was of silver, for in Shlomo's time it was regarded as having little value.
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And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon.
22 The king had a fleet of large "Tarshish" ships along with Hiram's fleet; once every three years the "Tarshish" fleet came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
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For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
23 So King Shlomo surpassed all the kings on earth in both wealth and wisdom.
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And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.
24 All the earth sought to have an audience with Shlomo, in order to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
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And from all over the earth they came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 Each one brought his present - articles of silver, articles of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses and mules; and this continued year after year.
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And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year.
26 Shlomo amassed chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen; he assigned them to the chariot cities and to the king in Yerushalayim.
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And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.
27 The king made silver in Yerushalayim as common as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees are in the Sh'felah.
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And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.
28 Shlomo's horses had been brought from Egypt and from Keveh, with the king's agents having bought them from the dealers in Keveh at the going price.
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And Solomon's horses came from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders got them at a price from Kue.
29 A chariot from Egypt cost fifteen pounds of silver shekels and a horse three-and-three quarters pounds [of shekels]; all the kings of the Hittim and the kings of Aram purchased them at these prices through Shlomo's agents.
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A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.