19. and 12 lions stood on the six steps, one at each end of each step. None like it was ever made for any kingdom.
20. All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the palace of the Lebanon Forest were of pure gold—silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.
21. Because the king’s ships sailed to Tarshish with Huram’s servants once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
22. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
23. And all the kings of the earth sought an audience with Solomon to listen to the wisdom that God had put in his heart.
24. Everyone brought his tribute—vessels of silver, vessels of gold, garments, armor, spices, horses and mules—in the due amount each year.
25. Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
26. And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.
27. The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamore trees that are in the foothills.