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, she came to test him with difficult questions in Yerushalayim, accompanied by a very great retinue, including camels bearing spices and gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she appeared before Shlomo, she spoke with him about everything on her heart;
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Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.
2 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 he did not make clear to her.
3 After the queen of Sh'va had seen Shlomo's wisdom, the palace he had built,
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And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made,
4 the food at his table, the manner of seating his officials, the manner in which his staff served him and how they were dressed, his personal servants and how they were dressed, and his manner of going up to 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 their robes, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
5 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.
6 but I couldn't believe the report until I came and saw for myself. Actually, they didn't tell me even half of how great your wisdom is. In reality, you 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 truly, word was not given me of half your great wisdom; you are much greater than they said.
7 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 and happy these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.
8 Blessed be ADONAI your God, who took pleasure in you to put you on his throne, so that you could be king for ADONAI your God. Because of your God's love for Isra'el, to establish them forever, he has made you king over them, to administer law and judgment."
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Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness.
9 Then she gave the king four tons of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there had never been spices like 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 had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon.
10 Huram's servants and Shlomo's servants, who had brought the gold from Ofir, now brought sandalwood and precious stones.
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And the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with sandal-wood and jewels.
11 The king used the sandalwood to make walkways for the house of ADONAI and for the royal palace, also lyres and lutes for the singers. None like these had been seen before in the land of Y'hudah.
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And with the sandal-wood the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody; never before had such been seen in the land of Judah.
12 King Shlomo gave the queen of Sh'va everything she wanted, whatever she asked, more than what she had brought to the king. 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 she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.
13 The weight of the gold Shlomo received annually came to twenty-two tons,
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Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents;
14 besides that which came from customs duties and sales taxes; also all the Arab kings and regional governors brought gold and silver to Shlomo.
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And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.
15 King Shlomo made 200 large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of hammered gold went into one shield.
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And King Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.
16 He made 300 more shields of hammered gold, with seven-and-a-half 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, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
17 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
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Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.
18 The throne had six steps and a gold footstool; these were fastened to the throne. There were arms on either side of the seat, two lions standing beside the arms,
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There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms.
19 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 one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
20 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; for in Shlomo's time, silver was regarded as having little value.
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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: no one gave a thought to silver in the days of Solomon.
21 The king had ships that could go to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the "Tarshish" ships came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
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For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
22 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.
23 All the kings on 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 all the kings of the earth came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put into his heart.
24 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 for transport, regularly year by year.
25 Shlomo also had 4,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and his 12,000 horsemen; he assigned them to the chariot cities and to the king in Yerushalayim.
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Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.
26 He ruled over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River through the land of the P'lishtim to the border of Egypt.
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And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt.
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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The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.
28 They brought horses for Shlomo from Egypt and from all countries.
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They got horses for Solomon from Egypt and from every land.
29 Other activities of Shlomo, from beginning to end, are written in the records of Natan the prophet, in the prophecy of Achiyah of Shiloh and in the visions of Ye'do the seer concerning Yarov'am the son of N'vat.
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Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not recorded in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat?
30 Shlomo reigned in Yerushalayim over all Isra'el for forty years.
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Solomon was king over Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.
31 Then Shlomo slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David his father, and Rechav'am his son became king in his place.
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And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.
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.