¹And when the queen of Sheba heard the report of Solomon – what he had done for the name of the Lord – she came to test him with riddles. ²And she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue of camels bearing fragrances, and a very large quantity of gold, and precious stones. And she came to Solomon, and she told him everything that was on her heart. ³And Solomon answered all her points raised – nothing was inexplicable to the king, which he could not tell her. ⁴So the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon's wisdom, and the house which he had built, ⁵and the food at his table, and the seated assembly of his servants, and the standing assembly of his attendants, and their apparel, and his butlers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of the Lord. And it took her breath away. ⁶And she said to the king, “The report which I heard in my country about your affairs and your wisdom was true. ⁷But I did not believe those things until I came and my eyes saw them, and it turns out that half was not told me, and you have exceeded the wisdom and prosperity which I heard of in the report. ⁸Blessed are your men, blessed are these servants of yours who stand before you continually, who hear your wisdom. ⁹Blessed be the Lord your God, who has been favourably disposed to you in setting you on the throne of Israel, in the Lord's age-abiding love for Israel, who has appointed you as king to execute justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and very many fragrances and precious stones, and such fragrance as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon never arrived again for its abundance. ¹¹And also Hiram's fleet, which transported gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. ¹²And the king made from the almug wood auxiliary equipment for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and harps and lutes for the singers. Never again did such almug wood arrive, nor has it been seen, up to this day. ¹³And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire which she asked for, in addition to what he gave her according to the means of King Solomon. Then she took her leave and went back to her country with her servants. ¹⁴And the weight of the gold which accrued to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁵apart from what he obtained from travelling folk and trade with merchants and all the kings of Arabia and the potentates of the land. ¹⁶And King Solomon made two hundred shields of alloyed gold. Six hundred shekels of gold went in each shield, ¹⁷and he made three hundred bucklers of alloyed gold. Three manehs of gold went in each buckler, and the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸And the king made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁹There were six steps up to the throne, and the throne had a round canopy extending from its back, and armrests on each side of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ²⁰And twelve lions stood there on the six steps – six on each side. Nothing had been made like it in any of the kingdoms. ²¹And all King Solomon's tableware for drinking was of gold, and all the articles of the house of the Forest of Lebanon were of seamless gold. Nothing was of silver – it was not regarded in Solomon's days as anything special. ²²But the king had the fleet of Tarshish on the sea with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the Tarshish fleet came transporting gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks. ²³And King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth, in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴And all the earth would seek an audience with Solomon, so as to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵And they each brought their gift – articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and weaponry and fragrances, horses and mules – an event which took place year in year out. ²⁶And Solomon assembled a chariot fleet and horsemen, and he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he led them into the chariot cities, whereas some were with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷And the king made silver commonplace in Jerusalem like stones in their abundance, and he made cedars like sycamores which are in the lowlands in abundance. ²⁸And the origin of Solomon's horses was that they were from Egypt, and the company of the king's merchants obtained the company of animals at a price. ²⁹And a chariot went up and departed from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty, and so they dispatched them through their agency to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aramaea.