1 A rainha de Sabá, tendo ouvido falar de Salomão e da glória do Senhor, veio prová-lo com enigmas.
2 Chegou a Jerusalém com uma numerosa comitiva, com camelos carregados de aromas, e uma grande quantidade de ouro e pedras preciosas. Apresentou-se diante do rei Salomão e disse-lhe tudo o que tinha no espírito.
3 A tudo respondeu o rei. Nenhuma de suas perguntas lhe pareceu obscura, e deu solução a todas.
4 Quando a rainha de Sabá viu toda a sabedoria de Salomão, a casa que ele tinha feito,
5 os manjares de sua mesa, os apartamentos de seus servos, as habitações e uniformes de seus oficiais, os copeiros do rei e os holocaustos que ele oferecia no templo do Senhor, ficou estupefata,
6 e disse ao rei: É bem verdade o que ouvi a teu respeito e de tua sabedoria, na minha terra.
7 Eu não quis acreditar no que me diziam, antes de vir aqui e ver com os meus próprios olhos. Mas eis que não contavam nem a metade: tua sabedoria e tua opulência são muito maiores do que a fama que havia chegado até mim.
8 Felizes os teus homens, felizes os teus servos que estão sempre contigo e ouvem a tua sabedoria!
9 Bendito seja o Senhor, teu Deus, a quem aprouve colocar-te sobre o trono de Israel. Porque o Senhor amou Israel para sempre, por isso constituiu-te rei para governares com justiça e eqüidade.
10 Presenteou o rei com cento e vinte talentos de ouro e grande quantidade de perfumes e pedras preciosas. Não apareceu jamais uma quantidade de aromas tão grande como a que a rainha de Sabá deu ao rei Salomão.
11 A frota de Hirão, que trazia o ouro de Ofir, trouxe também grande quantidade de madeira de sândalo e pedras preciosas.
12 Com este sândalo fez o rei balaustradas para o templo do Senhor, assim como harpas e flautas para os músicos do palácio real. E desde então não se transportou mais dessa madeira de sândalo, e não se viu mais até o dia de hoje.
13 O rei Salomão deu à rainha de Sabá tudo o que ela desejou e pediu, além dos presentes que ele mesmo lhe fez com real liberalidade. E a rainha retomou o caminho de volta com a sua comitiva.
14 O peso de ouro, que era levado anualmente a Salomão, era de seiscentos e sessenta e seis talentos,
15 sem contar o que ele recebia dos vendedores ambulantes e do tráfico dos negociantes, dos reis da Arábia e de todos os governadores da terra.
16 O rei Salomão mandou fazer duzentos escudos de ouro batido, empregando em cada um seiscentos siclos de ouro,
17 e trezentos escudos menores de ouro batido, empregando em cada um três minas de ouro. E colocou-os no pavilhão da Floresta do Líbano.
18 Mandou fazer também um grande trono de marfim, revestido de ouro fino.
19 O trono tinha seis degraus; a parte superior do espaldar era arredondada; havia de cada lado do assento dois braços, junto dos quais se achavam figuras de dois leões;
20 havia outros doze leões postos nos degraus, seis de cada lado. Nunca se fez coisa semelhante em nenhum outro reino.
21 Todas as taças do rei Salomão eram de ouro, assim como todo o vasilhame do pavilhão da Floresta do Líbano. Não havia nada feito de prata, porque não se fazia caso algum dela no tempo de Salomão.
22 O rei tinha no mar navios de Társis, que acompanhavam a frota de Hirão. De três em três anos, a frota de Társis trazia ouro, prata, marfim, macacos e pavões.
23 O rei Salomão sobrepujou todos os reis da terra em riquezas e opulência.
24 Todos buscavam a presença de Salomão para ouvir a sabedoria que o Senhor lhe tinha dado.
25 E cada um lhe trazia presentes: objetos de prata e ouro, vestes, armas, aromas, cavalos e burros. Assim, cada ano.
26 Contou Salomão os seus carros e cavaleiros: havia mil e quatrocentos carros e doze mil cavaleiros, que distribuiu pelas cidades-entrepostos dos carros e por Jerusalém, junto dele.
27 Graças ao rei, tornou-se a prata em Jerusalém tão comum como as pedras, e os cedros tão numerosos como os sicômoros que crescem na planície.
28 Vinham do Egito os cavalos de Salomão; uma caravana de mercadores do rei ia comprá-los ali por um preço estabelecido.
29 Uma quadriga trazida do Egito custava-lhe seiscentos siclos de prata, e um cavalo cento e cinqüenta siclos. Do mesmo modo exportavam cavalos para todos os reis dos hiteus e da Síria.
1 Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels weighted down with spices, and stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.
3 And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which the king did not make clear to her.
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made,
5 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 the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
6 And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true.
7 But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and now I see that it was not half the story; your wisdom and your wealth are much greater than they said.
8 Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.
9 May the Lord your God be praised, whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; because the Lord's love for Israel is eternal, he has made you king, to be their judge in righteousness.
10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never again was such a wealth of spices seen as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
11 And the sea-force of Hiram, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with much sandal-wood and jewels.
12 And from the sandal-wood the king made pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody: never has such sandal-wood been seen to this day.
13 And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what he gave her freely from the impulse of his heart. So she went back to her country, she and her servants.
14 Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents;
15 In addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country.
16 And Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.
17 And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, with three pounds of gold in every cover: and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.
19 There were six steps going up to it, and the top of it was round at the back, there were arms on the two sides of the seat, and two lions by the side of the arms;
20 And twelve lions were placed on the one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
21 And 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; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon.
22 For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
23 And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.
24 And from all over the earth they came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 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 of transport, regularly year by year.
26 And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.
27 And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.
28 And Solomon's horses came from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders got them at a price from Kue.
29 A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.