Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Chronicles 9:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence: “And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Gold, throne, shields, and ships magnify Solomon.”
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 9:13–21
Read 2 Chronicles 9:20 with 9:13–21. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Annual gold, tribute, shields, an ivory throne, golden vessels, and triennial ships make silver seem ordinary in Jerusalem.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Gold, throne, shields, and ships magnify Solomon,” 2 Chronicles 9:20 advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The inventory heightens the glory that attracted the queen but also invites comparison with Torah's cautions about royal accumulation. 2 Chronicles 9:1–12 has just established this prior movement: A foreign queen arrives with hard questions and wealth, judges Solomon's wisdom and court order, blesses Israel's God, exchanges gifts, and returns home. Together those details explain why “Gold, throne, shields, and ships magnify Solomon” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 2 Chronicles 9:13–21 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 9:13–21 forms the complete movement “Gold, throne, shields, and ships magnify Solomon”: Annual gold, tribute, shields, an ivory throne, golden vessels, and triennial ships make silver seem ordinary in Jerusalem.
Verse 13. 13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;
Verse 14. 14 Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
Verse 15. 15 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target.
Verse 16. 16 And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
Verse 17. 17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
Verse 18. 18 And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:
Verse 19. 19 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.
Verse 20. 20 And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
Verse 21. 21 For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
What Remains True
Worship and wisdom remain accountable to covenant, labor, outsiders, resources, and God's freedom; sacred scale never makes royal power or a building immune from review. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Annual gold, tribute, shields, an ivory throne, golden vessels, and triennial ships make silver seem ordinary in Jerusalem. In 2 Chronicles 9:20, the concrete line “And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house….” When worship, buildings, wealth, or leadership are involved, disclose labor and money, welcome outsiders without stigma, preserve covenant limits, and refuse to measure God's presence by scale or spectacle. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Annual gold, tribute, shields, an ivory throne, golden vessels, and triennial ships make silver seem ordinary in Jerusalem.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Chronicles 9:13–21 — Gold, throne, shields, and ships magnify SolomonSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Chronicles 9:13–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 9:13–21
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 2 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 9:13–21, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗