2 Crônicas 9

ARC · Chapter 9/36

1E ouvindo a rainha de Saba a fama de Salomão, veiu a Jerusalem, provar a Salomão com enigmas, com um mui grande exercito, e camelos carregados d'especiarias, e oiro em abundancia e pedras preciosas; e veiu a Salomão, e fallou com elle de tudo o que tinha no seu coração.

2E Salomão lhe declarou todas as suas palavras: e nenhuma coisa se occultou a Salomão, que lhe não declarasse.

3Vendo pois a rainha de Saba a sabedoria de Salomão, e a casa que edificara;

4E as iguarias da sua mesa, e o assentar dos seus servos, e o estar dos seus creados, e os vestidos d'elles; e os seus copeiros, e os vestidos d'elles; e a sua subida pela qual elle subia á casa do Senhor, ella ficou como fóra de si.

5Então disse ao rei: Foi verdade a palavra que ouvi na minha terra ácerca dos teus feitos e da tua sabedoria.

6Porém não cria as suas palavras, até que vim, e meus olhos o viram, e eis-que me não disseram a metade da grandeza da tua sabedoria: sobrepujaste á fama que ouvi

7Bemaventurados os teus homens, e bemaventurados estes teus servos, que estão sempre diante de ti, e ouvem a tua sabedoria!

8Bemdito seja o Senhor teu Deus, que se agradou em ti para te pôr como rei sobre o seu throno, pelo Senhor teu Deus: porquanto teu Deus ama a Israel, para estabelecel-o perpetuamente; e poz-te por rei sobre elles, para fazeres juizo e justiça.

9E deu ao rei cento e vinte talentos d'oiro, e especiarias em grande abundancia, e pedras preciosas: e nunca houve taes especiarias, quaes a rainha de Saba deu ao rei Salomão.

10E tambem os servos d'Hurão, e os servos de Salomão, que de Ophir tinham trazido oiro, trouxeram madeira d'algum, e pedras preciosas.

11E fez o rei corredores de madeira d'algum, para a casa do Senhor, e para a casa do rei, como tambem harpas e alaudes para os cantores, quaes nunca d'antes se viram na terra de Judah.

12E o rei Salomão deu á rainha de Saba tudo quanto lhe agradou, e o que lhe pediu, alem do que ella mesma trouxera ao rei: assim virou-se e foi para a sua terra, ella e os seus servos.

13E era o peso do oiro, que vinha em um anno a Salomão, seiscentos e sessenta e seis talentos d'oiro,

14Afóra do que os negociantes e mercadores traziam: tambem todos os reis da Arabia, e os principes da mesma terra traziam a Salomão oiro e prata.

15Tambem fez Salomão duzentos pavezes d'oiro batido: para cada pavez mandou pesar seiscentos siclos d'oiro batido.

16Como tambem trezentos escudos d'oiro batido; para cada escudo mandou pezar trezentos siclos d'oiro: e Salomão os poz na casa do bosque do Libano.

17Fez mais o rei um grande throno de marfim; e o cobriu d'oiro puro.

18E o throno tinha seis degráus, e um estrado d'oiro, pegado ao throno, e encostos d'ambas as bandas no logar do assento: e dois leões estavam junto aos encostos.

19E doze leões estavam ali d'ambas as bandas, sobre os seis degraus: outro tal se não fez em nenhum reino.

20Tambem todos os vasos de beber do rei Salomão eram d'oiro, e todos os vasos da casa do bosque do Libano, d'oiro puro: a prata reputava-se por nada nos dias de Salomão.

21Porque, indo os navios do rei com os servos d'Hurão, a Tharsis, tornavam os navios de Tharsis, uma vez em tres annos, e traziam oiro e prata, marfim, e bugios, e pavões.

22Assim excedeu o rei Salomão todos os reis da terra, em riqueza e sabedoria.

23E todos os reis da terra procuravam ver o rosto de Salomão, para ouvirem a sua sabedoria, que Deus lhe dera no seu coração.

24E elles traziam cada um o seu presente, vasos d'oiro, e vestidos, armaduras, e especiarias, cavallos e mulos: cada coisa d'anno em anno.

25Teve tambem Salomão quatro mil estrebarias de cavallos e carros, e doze mil cavalleiros: e pôl-os nas cidades dos carros, e com o rei em Jerusalem.

26E dominava sobre todos os reis, desde o rio até á terra dos philisteos, e até ao termo do Egypto.

27Tambem o rei fez que houvesse prata em Jerusalem como pedras, e cedros em tanta abundancia como as figueiras bravas que ha pelas campinas.

28E do Egypto e de todas aquellas terras traziam cavallos a Salomão.

29Os mais successos pois de Salomão, tanto os primeiros como os ultimos, porventura não estão escriptos no livro das fallas de Nathan, o propheta, e na prophecia d'Ahias , o silonita, e nas visões de Iddo, o vidente, ácerca de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat

30E reinou Salomão em Jerusalem quarenta annos sobre todo o Israel.

31E dormiu Salomão com seus paes, e o sepultaram na cidade de David seu pae: e Roboão, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The queen of Sheba travels from distant lands to test Solomon's wisdom with difficult questions, and is impressed beyond her expectations. The chapter also summarizes Solomon's extraordinary wealth, military power, and international fame before his death.

Explanation

The visit of the queen of Sheba, probably from the region of present-day Yemen or Ethiopia, is a powerful testimony to the international reach of Solomon's reputation, drawing visitors from distant lands driven by curiosity about his exceptional wisdom. Her reaction — acknowledging that the reality surpassed even the reports she had already heard, and praising the God of Israel for placing Solomon on the throne — shows how Israel's wisdom and prosperity served as a testimony for other nations to recognize the God of Israel himself. The final summary of Solomon's excessive wealth, with silver becoming as common as stones in Jerusalem, marks the absolute peak of the united kingdom's material prosperity, just before the decline that would begin in the very next chapter.

Fun facts

  • Jesus, in Matthew 12:42, makes direct reference to the 'queen of the south' who came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, using this historical episode as an example to challenge his contemporaries who rejected an even greater wisdom present before them.
  • Ethiopian tradition holds that the queen of Sheba had a son with Solomon, named Menelik, who supposedly became the ancestor of Ethiopia's royal dynasty — an influential legend in Ethiopian culture, though not confirmed by the biblical text itself.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 9:1The queen of Sheba travels with an enormous retinue just to test Solomon with hard questions, the kind of test that served both to gauge his reputation for wisdom and to negotiate trade relations between the two kingdoms.
  2. 2 Crônicas 9:2Solomon answers every one of the queen of Sheba’s hard questions without leaving a single one unanswered — the test of wisdom she had come looking for is confirmed point by point.
  3. 2 Crônicas 9:3Beyond the correct answers, the queen also sees with her own eyes the palace Solomon built, just as impressed by the structure as by his words.
  4. 2 Crônicas 9:4The food at the royal table, the organization of the officials and servants, their uniforms, and even the ascent leading up to the temple leave the queen breathless — the luxury shows through in every detail of daily life.
  5. 2 Crônicas 9:5The queen admits to Solomon that she had already heard of his fame in her own land, but wanted to confirm in person whether it was really true.
  6. 2 Crônicas 9:6After seeing everything up close, the queen confesses that the reports didn’t even come close to the reality — what she had heard was not even half of what she actually saw.
  7. 2 Crônicas 9:7The queen even praises Solomon’s own officials, calling happy those who get to stay close by, always hearing his wisdom.
  8. 2 Crônicas 9:8The queen acknowledges that Solomon’s success comes from God’s love for Israel — he was set on the throne precisely to do justice and govern with righteousness.
  9. 2 Crônicas 9:9Before leaving, the queen gives Solomon an enormous quantity of gold, along with spices so rare that none like them ever appeared again in the kingdom.
  10. 2 Crônicas 9:10At the same time, the sailors of Huram and of Solomon bring algum wood and precious stones from Ophir — another valuable cargo arriving by sea.
  11. 2 Crônicas 9:11With this rare wood, Solomon has terraces made for the temple and the palace, along with musical instruments the like of which no one in Judah had ever seen before.
  12. 2 Crônicas 9:12Solomon returns the favor by giving the queen of Sheba everything she asked for, beyond what she had already brought — after that she returns to her own land with her retinue.
  13. 2 Crônicas 9:13Six hundred sixty-six talents of gold coming to Solomon in a single year, not counting what came from trade — this kind of extravagant number appears several times in the book to mark the kingdom’s wealth at its height, though, as always with these lists, scholars debate the best way to read such high quantities in ancient texts.
  14. 2 Crônicas 9:14Besides the gold already coming in through trade, Arabian kings and regional governors also sent gold and silver to Solomon regularly — one more source of wealth added to the others.
  15. 2 Crônicas 9:15Solomon has two hundred large shields made of hammered gold, each using a generous amount of the metal — pure display of royal wealth.
  16. 2 Crônicas 9:16Besides the large shields, three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold round out the collection, kept in a building called the “house of the forest of Lebanon,” built of cedar wood.
  17. 2 Crônicas 9:17Solomon has an enormous throne of ivory built, all overlaid with pure gold — a direct symbol of the king’s power and wealth.
  18. 2 Crônicas 9:18The throne had six steps, a gold footstool attached to it, armrests on each side of the seat, and two carved lions resting on those armrests.
  19. 2 Crônicas 9:19Twelve carved lions, two on each of the six steps, completed the throne — the text assures us no other kingdom had built anything like it.
  20. 2 Crônicas 9:20All of Solomon’s cups and vessels were gold, both in the palace and in the house of the forest of Lebanon — silver had become so common it practically lost its value.
  21. 2 Crônicas 9:21Solomon’s fleet, with sailors lent by Huram, sailed to Tarshish and returned every three years bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks — exotic goods from distant lands.
  22. 2 Crônicas 9:22The summary is direct: Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in both riches and wisdom.
  23. 2 Crônicas 9:23Kings from everywhere sought Solomon out in person just to hear the wisdom God had put in him.
  24. 2 Crônicas 9:24Each visitor brought his own gift — gold objects, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules — a steady flow of tribute repeated every year.
  25. 2 Crônicas 9:25Four thousand stalls and twelve thousand horsemen show the scale of Solomon’s army; it’s worth noting that the parallel account in Kings records a quite different number of stalls, one of several points where the two books don’t line up exactly on numeric details.
  26. 2 Crônicas 9:26Solomon’s dominion stretched from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt — a territory far larger than Israel alone.
  27. 2 Crônicas 9:27Silver became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar as common as wild fig trees — the same image of extreme abundance already used in chapter 1 to describe the kingdom’s wealth.
  28. 2 Crônicas 9:28Horses kept arriving for Solomon from Egypt and other regions, feeding the chariot trade he himself resold to other kings.
  29. 2 Crônicas 9:29The final summary of Solomon’s reign points to records by three prophets of the time — Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo — sources the Chronicler himself cites as the basis for the account.
  30. 2 Crônicas 9:30Solomon reigns forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel — still the united kingdom, before the division that comes in the next chapter.
  31. 2 Crônicas 9:31Solomon dies and is buried in the city of David, his father, and his son Rehoboam takes the throne — the transition that will trigger the crisis of the next chapter.

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