1 Kings 10:18

THE MESSAGE

The king built a massive throne of ivory accented with a veneer of gold. The throne had six steps leading up to it, its back shaped like an arch. The armrests on each side were flanked by lions. Lions, twelve of them, were placed at either end of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any of the surrounding kingdoms.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold.

Hebrew Names Version
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

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

English Standard Version
The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.

New Century Version
The king built a large throne of ivory and covered it with fine gold.

New English Translation
The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

Amplified Bible
Also the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.

New American Standard Bible
Moreover, the king made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with fine gold.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the King made a great throne of yuorie, and couered it with the best golde.

Legacy Standard Bible
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

Contemporary English Version
His throne was made of ivory and covered with pure gold.

Complete Jewish Bible
The king also made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.

Darby Translation
And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with refined gold:

Easy-to-Read Version
King Solomon also built a large throne with ivory decorations. It was covered with pure gold.

George Lamsa Translation
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with gold from Ophir.

Good News Translation
He also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with the finest gold.

Lexham English Bible
The king also made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it with fine gold.

Literal Translation
And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the kynge made a greate seate of Yuery, and ouerlayed it with ye most precious golde.

American Standard Version
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

Bible in Basic English
Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the king made a great seate of iuorie, and couered it with the best golde.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

King James Version (1611)
Moreouer the king made a great throne of yuorie, and ouerlaide it with the best gold.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the king made a great ivory throne, and gilded it with pure gold.

English Revised Version
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

Berean Standard Bible
Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also kyng Salomon made a greet trone of yuer, and clothide it with ful fyn gold;

Young's Literal Translation
And the king maketh a great throne of ivory, and overlayeth it with refined gold;

Update Bible Version
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

Webster's Bible Translation
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.

World English Bible
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

New King James Version
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

New Living Translation
Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.

New Life Bible
Then the king made a large throne of ivory and covered it with fine gold.

New Revised Standard
The king also made a great ivory throne, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the king made a great throne of ivory, - and overlaid it with gold from Uphaz.

Douay-Rheims Bible
King Solomon also made a great throne of ivory: and overlaid it with the finest gold.

Revised Standard Version
The king also made a great ivory throne, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Solomon received twenty-five tons of gold in tribute annually. This was above and beyond the taxes and profit on trade with merchants and assorted kings and governors. ¹⁶King Solomon crafted two hundred body-length shields of hammered gold—seven and a half pounds of gold to each shield—and three hundred smaller shields about half that size. He stored the shields in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸The king built a massive throne of ivory accented with a veneer of gold. The throne had six steps leading up to it, its back shaped like an arch. The armrests on each side were flanked by lions. Lions, twelve of them, were placed at either end of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any of the surrounding kingdoms. ²¹ King Solomon's chalices and tankards were made of gold and all the dinnerware and serving utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold—nothing was made of silver; silver was considered common and cheap. ²² The king had a fleet of ocean-going ships at sea with Hiram's ships. Every three years the fleet would bring in a cargo of gold, silver, and ivory, and apes and peacocks. ²³King Solomon was wiser and richer than all the kings of the earth—he surpassed them all. People came from all over the world to be with Solomon and drink in the wisdom God had given him. And everyone who came brought gifts—artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, and horses and mules—parades of visitors, year after year. ²⁶Solomon collected chariots and horses: fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses! He stabled them in the special chariot cities as well as in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as rocks and cedar as common as the fig trees in the lowland hills. His horses were brought in from Egypt and Cilicia, specially acquired by the king's agents. Chariots from Egypt went for fifteen pounds of silver and a horse for about three and three-quarter pounds of silver. Solomon carried on a brisk horse-trading business with the Hittite and Aramean royal houses.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a great throne: 2 Chronicles 9:17-19, Psalms 45:6, Psalms 110:1, Psalms 122:5, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 1:8, Revelation 20:11

ivory: 1 Kings 10:22, 1 Kings 22:39, Psalms 45:8, Ezekiel 27:6, Amos 6:4, Revelation 18:12

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:7 - for the throne Esther 5:1 - sat Song of Solomon 7:4 - ivory

Cross-References

2 Samuel 8:9
Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had struck down the entire army of Hadadezer. So he sent his son Joram to King David to greet and congratulate him for fighting and defeating them, for Toi and Hadadezer were old enemies. He brought with him gifts of silver, gold, and bronze. King David consecrated these along with the silver and gold from all the nations he had conquered—from Aram, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and from Amalek, along with the plunder from Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah.

2 Kings 17:24
The king of Assyria brought in people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and relocated them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the exiled Israelites. They moved in as if they owned the place and made themselves at home. When the Assyrians first moved in, God was just another god to them; they neither honored nor worshiped him. Then God sent lions among them and people were mauled and killed.

2 Chronicles 13:4
Abijah took a prominent position on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and gave this speech: "Listen, Jeroboam and all Israel! Don't you realize that God , the one and only God of Israel, established David and his sons as the permanent rulers of Israel, ratified by a ‘covenant of salt'— God 's kingdom ruled by God 's king? And what happened? Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's slave Nebat, rebelled against his master. All the riffraff joined his cause and were too much for Rehoboam, Solomon's true heir. Rehoboam didn't know his way around—besides he was a real wimp; he couldn't stand up against them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory,.... To sit on and judge his people; and ivory being white, may denote the purity, justice, and equity with which he judged; the white throne in Revelation 20:11 may be an allusion to this; the ivory he had from Tarshish, 1 Kings 10:22

and overlaid it with the best gold; for the greater splendour and majesty of it; not that he covered it all over, for then the ivory would not be seen, but interlined it, or studded it with it, whereby it appeared the more beautiful and magnificent. Such a throne of gold and ivory was decreed to Caesar by the Romans p.

p Appian. Alex. l. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is, on the whole, probable that the substance of the throne was wood, and that the ivory, cut into thin slabs, and probably carved in patterns, was applied externally as a veneer. This is found to have been the practice in Assyria. The gold was probably not placed over the ivory, but covered other parts of the throne.