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シェバの女王の来訪
1そのころ、ソロモン王の知恵のすばらしさを伝え聞いたシェバの女王は、難問をしかけて王を試そうとエルサレムにやって来ました。香油や金、宝石をらくだに山と積んで、大ぜいの家来や召使を従えて来ました。 2ソロモンは、彼女のすべての質問に明快に答えました。わからないことは一つもなく、何でも説き明かすことができました。 3女王はその知恵の深さにたいそう驚き、王宮の美しさにもすっかり圧倒されました。 4そのうえ、食卓の料理の豪勢なこと、王に仕える家来や従者の多いことは目をみはるばかりでした。彼らのそろいの服装、威儀を正した側近たち、王を護衛する人々を見て、息も止まりそうでした。
5そこで彼女は、思ったとおりをソロモン王に言いました。「私の国であなたについてお聞きしたことは、みなほんとうでした。 6実は、ここに来てこの目で拝見するまでは、とても信じられませんでした。あなたは、私が想像していたより、はるかにすばらしい知恵をお持ちです。 7おそばにいて、あなたのお話を聞けるこの方々はなんと幸せなことでしょう。 8あなたの神がほめたたえられますように。あなたの神はイスラエルをことのほか愛しておられるので、あなたのようなすばらしい王をお立てになったに違いありません。きっと、イスラエルがいつまでも偉大な、強い民であることを望んでおられるのです。」 9女王はソロモンに、百二十タラントの金と、最高の品質を誇る大量の香油、それに数えきれないほどの宝石を贈りました。
10フラム王とソロモン王の乗組員たちは、オフィルから、金のほかに、びゃくだんの木材と宝石を運んで来ました。 11王は、そのびゃくだんで神殿と王宮のひな壇を造り、また、合唱隊の竪琴や琴も作りました。このような見事な楽器は、これまでユダのどこにもありませんでした。
12ソロモン王はシェバの女王に、もらった贈り物に見合う品物を贈り、さらに、彼女が望む物は何でも与えました。それから、女王とその家来の一行は自分の国へ帰って行きました。
ソロモンの栄華と死
13-14ソロモン王は毎年、アラビヤの王たちや、貢ぎ物を納める他の国々から、金にして六百六十六タラントの収入がありました。そのほか、王の貿易商による交易収入がありました。 15-16王は、一個に六百シェケル（六・九キログラム）の金を使った大盾二百と、一個に三百シェケルの金を使った小盾三百を作り、王宮の「レバノンの森の間」に置きました。 17また、大きな象牙の王座を作り、これに純金をかぶせました。 18金の足台のついたその王座には、六つの金の段がありました。座席の両側には金のひじかけがついていて、そのわきには二頭の金のライオン像が立っていました。 19六つの段の両わきにも、それぞれ一頭ずつ金のライオン像が立っていました。これと比べられるような王座は、世界のどこにもありませんでした。 20王の杯はみな純金で作られ、「レバノンの森の間」にある器物もすべて純金製でした。銀は、ソロモンの時代にはそれほど値打ちのないものとみなされていたのです。 21王は三年に一度、フラム王の提供する船員を使ってタルシシュへ船を送り、金、銀、象牙、さる、くじゃくなどを運ばせました。
22こうしてソロモン王は、世界中のどの王よりも富と知恵にまさっていました。 23あらゆる国の王が、ソロモン王から、神が彼に授けた知恵のことばを聞こうと会いにやって来ました。 24彼らはおのおの、金や銀の鉢、衣服、武器、香油、馬、らばなどを、年ごとの贈り物として携えて来ました。
25このほか、ソロモン王は四千の馬屋と戦車、それに騎兵一万二千を戦車の町々に配置し、また、エルサレムでの王宮警護に当たらせました。 26ユーフラテス川からペリシテ人の地、さらにエジプトの国境に至る地域のすべてが、王の支配地でした。 27エルサレムでは、銀が路上の石同然に大量に使われ、杉の木が桑の木のようにふんだんに用いられました。 28馬は、エジプトなどの国々から運ばれて来ました。
29そのほかのソロモン王の業績は、『預言者ナタンの言行録』『シロ人アヒヤの預言書』および、『先見者イドの見たネバテの子ヤロブアムについての幻の記録』に載っています。
30ソロモンはエルサレムで四十年間、イスラエルを治めました。 31王は死んでエルサレムに葬られ、その子レハブアムが新しく王となりました。
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
1The queen of Sheba heard about how famous Solomon was. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She arrived with a very large group of attendants. Her camels were carrying spices, huge amounts of gold, and valuable jewels. She came to Solomon and asked him about everything she wanted to know. 2He answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything too hard for him to explain to her. 3So the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was. She saw the palace he had built. 4She saw the food on his table. She saw his officials sitting there. She saw the robes of the servants who waited on everyone. She saw the robes the wine tasters were wearing. And she saw the burnt offerings Solomon sacrificed at the Lord’s temple. She could hardly believe everything she had seen.
5She said to the king, “Back in my own country I heard a report about you. I heard about how much you had accomplished. I also heard about how wise you are. Everything I heard is true. 6But I didn’t believe what people were saying. So I came to see for myself. And now I believe it! You are twice as wise as people say you are. The report I heard doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story about you. 7How happy your people must be! How happy your officials must be! They always get to serve you and hear the wise things you say. 8May the Lord your God be praised. He takes great delight in you. He placed you on his throne as king. He put you there to rule for him. Your God loves Israel very much. He longs to take good care of them forever. That’s why he has made you king over them. He knows that you will do what is fair and right.”
9She gave the king four and a half tons of gold. She also gave him huge amounts of spices and valuable jewels. There had never been as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir. They also brought algumwood and valuable jewels. 11The king used the algumwood to make steps for the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He also used it to make harps and lyres for those who played the music. No one had ever seen anything like those instruments in Judah before.
12King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked for. In fact, he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left. She returned to her own country with her attendants.
Solomon’s Greatness
13Each year Solomon received 25 tons of gold. 14That didn’t include the money brought in by business and trade. All the kings of Arabia also brought gold and silver to Solomon. So did the governors of the territories.
15King Solomon made 200 large shields out of hammered gold. Each one weighed 15 pounds. 16He also made 300 small shields out of hammered gold. Each one weighed almost eight pounds. The king put all the shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
17Then he made a large throne. It was covered with ivory. And that was covered with pure gold. 18The throne had six steps. A gold stool for the king’s feet was connected to it. The throne had armrests on both sides of the seat. A statue of a lion stood on each side of the throne. 19Twelve lions stood on the six steps. There was one at each end of each step. Nothing like that throne had ever been made for any other kingdom. 20All of King Solomon’s cups were made out of gold. All the things used in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were made out of pure gold. Nothing was made out of silver. When Solomon was king, silver wasn’t considered to be worth very much. 21He had many ships that carried goods to be traded. The crews of those ships were made up of Hiram’s servants. Once every three years the ships returned. They brought gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
22King Solomon was richer than all the other kings on earth. He was also wiser than they were. 23All these kings wanted to meet Solomon in person. They wanted to see for themselves how wise God had made him. 24Year after year, everyone who came to him brought a gift. They brought gifts made out of silver and gold. They brought robes, weapons and spices. They also brought horses and mules.
25Solomon had 4,000 spaces where he kept his horses and chariots. He had 12,000 horses. He kept some of his horses and chariots in the chariot cities. He kept the others with him in Jerusalem. 26Solomon ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines. He ruled all the way to the border of Egypt. 27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones. He made cedar wood as common there as sycamore-fig trees in the western hills. 28Solomon got horses from Egypt. He also got them from many other countries.
Solomon Dies
29The other events of Solomon’s rule from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of Nathan the prophet. They are written in the prophecy of Ahijah. He was from Shiloh. They are also written in the records of the visions of Iddo the prophet about Jeroboam. Jeroboam was the son of Nebat. 30Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over the whole nation of Israel for 40 years. 31Then he joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the city of his father David. Solomon’s son Rehoboam became the next king after him.
