1 Kings 10

KJV · Chapter 10/22

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.

²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

³And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.

⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built,

⁵And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.

⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.

⁷Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.

⁸Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

⁹Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

¹⁰And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹¹And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.

¹²And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.

¹³And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,

¹⁵Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.

¹⁶And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.

¹⁷And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.

¹⁹The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.

²⁰And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

²¹And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

²²For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²³So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.

²⁴And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁵And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.

²⁸And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.

²⁹And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon to test his wisdom with difficult questions, and is deeply impressed by everything she sees. The chapter also describes Solomon's extraordinary wealth: gold, ivory, a magnificent throne, and international trade by sea.

Explanation

The visit of the Queen of Sheba (likely a region in southern Arabia or the northern Horn of Africa) shows how the fame of Solomon's wisdom crossed borders and cultures, drawing even foreign royalty willing to make a long journey to see it for themselves. Her final declaration, acknowledging God's blessing on Israel, is a rare testimony of a foreigner recognizing the sovereignty of the God of Israel. The wealth described here represents the absolute material peak of the united kingdom, but the chapter also plants seeds of future trouble with its mention of the growing fleet of horses and chariots — something the Mosaic law had warned kings to avoid (Deuteronomy 17:16).

Fun facts

Ethiopian tradition (recorded in the book Kebra Nagast) claims that the Queen of Sheba had a son with Solomon, Menelik I, who would become the ancestor of the Ethiopian royal dynasty — a legend with no direct biblical basis, but culturally very influential.
The ivory throne overlaid with pure gold, with six steps and twelve lions, had such a unique design that the text states 'nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.'

Verse-by-verse explanation

1 Kings 10:1Sheba was probably located in southern Arabia, or, by another theory, in the region of Ethiopia, along a spice caravan route. The queen’s visit is described as a royal mission to personally check Solomon’s reputation for wealth and wisdom before sealing any trade deal.
1 Kings 10:2She arrives in Jerusalem with an enormous retinue, camels loaded with spices, a great deal of gold, and precious stones, and talks with Solomon about everything on her mind.
1 Kings 10:3Solomon answers all her questions; nothing was too complicated for him to explain.
1 Kings 10:4When she saw all of Solomon’s wisdom and the palace he had built.
1 Kings 10:5She sees the food on the royal table, the officials seated in their places, the servants attending, their clothing, the cupbearers, and the sacrifices he offered at the Temple — and it takes her breath away.
1 Kings 10:6She tells the king that the reports she heard in her own land about him and his wisdom were true.
1 Kings 10:7She admits she didn’t believe it until she saw it with her own eyes — and what she had been told was only half of it; his wisdom and wealth exceed his reputation.
1 Kings 10:8She calls Solomon’s men and servants fortunate, since they always stay close to him hearing his wisdom.
1 Kings 10:9She blesses the LORD for delighting in Solomon and setting him on the throne of Israel — because God’s love for Israel made him king to carry out justice and righteousness.
1 Kings 10:10She gives Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold, along with a huge quantity of spices and precious stones — never again did that much spice arrive at once.
1 Kings 10:11Hiram’s ships also brought great quantities of sandalwood and precious stones from Ophir.
1 Kings 10:12Solomon used that rare wood to make structures for the Temple and the palace, as well as harps and lyres for the singers — wood of that quality never appeared again.
1 Kings 10:13Solomon gives the queen of Sheba everything she wished to ask for, beyond what he had already given out of his own generosity; then she returns to her land with her servants.
1 Kings 10:14A talent weighed dozens of pounds, so this figure of six hundred sixty-six talents of gold per year is staggering. Again, it works more as a literary sign of maximum prosperity than as an exact, verifiable accounting.
1 Kings 10:15Besides that fortune, revenue also came in from traders, merchants, all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of that region.
1 Kings 10:16Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold, using six hundred shekels of gold in each one.
1 Kings 10:17He also made three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold, each with three minas of gold, and stored them all in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
1 Kings 10:18The king also made a great throne of ivory, overlaid with the purest gold.
1 Kings 10:19The throne had six steps, a rounded top at the back, armrests on both sides of the seat, and two lions standing beside those armrests.
1 Kings 10:20Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one on each side — a piece unmatched in any other kingdom of that time.
1 Kings 10:21All of Solomon’s cups were gold, and so were all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon; silver was accounted as almost worthless in his days.
1 Kings 10:22The king had a fleet of merchant ships at sea, alongside Hiram’s; every three years they returned bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
1 Kings 10:23So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth, both in wealth and in wisdom.
1 Kings 10:24People from all over the world sought Solomon’s presence just to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
1 Kings 10:25Each visitor brought a gift — vessels of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules — and this repeated year after year.
1 Kings 10:26Buying horses and chariots from Egypt on a large scale directly contradicts an old instruction telling Israel’s king not to multiply horses from there. Read in hindsight, it’s a sign of the excess the next chapter will hold Solomon accountable for.
1 Kings 10:27Solomon made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowlands.
1 Kings 10:28Solomon’s horses came from Egypt; the king’s traders bought them in droves at a fixed price.
1 Kings 10:29A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse a hundred fifty; through those same traders, they were also resold to the Hittite and Syrian kings.