10:14 Solomon received 666 talents ¹  of gold per year, ²  10:15 besides what he collected from the merchants, ³  traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land. 10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures ⁴  of gold were used for each shield. 10:17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas ⁵  of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest. ⁶ 

10:18 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 10:19 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and the back of it was rounded on top. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side. ⁷  10:20 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom. ⁸ 

10:21 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. ⁹  10:22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships ¹⁰  that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet ¹¹  came into port with cargoes of ¹²  gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ¹³ 

10:23 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth. ¹⁴  10:24 Everyone ¹⁵  in the world wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. ¹⁶  10:25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. ¹⁷ 

10:26 Solomon accumulated ¹⁸  chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. ¹⁹  10:27 The king made silver as plentiful ²⁰  in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was ²¹  as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands. ²²  10:28 Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt ²³  and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que. 10:29 They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria. ²⁴ 

11:1 King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ²⁵  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ²⁶  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ²⁷ 

11:3 He had 700 royal wives ²⁸  and 300 concubines; ²⁹  his wives had a powerful influence over him. ³⁰  11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to ³¹  other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. ³²  11:5 Solomon worshiped ³³  the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ³⁴  11:6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; ³⁵  he did not remain loyal to ³⁶  the Lord, like his father David had. 11:7 Furthermore, ³⁷  on the hill east of Jerusalem ³⁸  Solomon built a high place ³⁹  for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh ⁴⁰  and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ⁴¹  11:8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. ⁴² 

11:9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance ⁴³  away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions ⁴⁴  11:10 and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. ⁴⁵  But he did not obey ⁴⁶  the Lord’s command. 11:11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you, ⁴⁷  I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 11:12 However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead. 11:13 But I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave ⁴⁸  your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”