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Money is one of the themes explored in the Bible, but who owned the most wealth in biblical times? The vast majority of rich people are mentioned in the Old Testament, but there is one example in the New Testament that should not be ignored either.

In this gallery, we list the wealthiest people in the Bible. Click through to discover them!

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The second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire is often quoted as being the wealthiest man in the Bible. He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, among other things.

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According to 2 Kings 24:14-15, he once took all of Jerusalem captive, including soldiers, craftsmen, and ironworkers, as well as 10,000 others.

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King David was also very wealthy. The Bible mentions how prosperous his life was and that he died a rich man.

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According to 1 Chronicles 22:14, David left his son Solomon 100,000 talents of gold to build the temple, which is the equivalent to around US$289 trillion in today's money!

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King Solomon had more gold than we could imagine: about “666 talents” a year (1 Kings 10:14). This is the equivalent of 22,679 kg (50,000 lbs). Solomon ruled for 40 years.

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Silver was so abundant in Solomon’s reign that it even lost its value; only gold was a display of wealth. “All of King Solomon’s drinking vessels were made of gold, and all the vessels in his palace in the Lebanon forest were made of pure gold. Silver was never considered to be valuable during the lifetime of Solomon,” (1 Kings 10:21).

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The Bible also tells us that Solomon also had 12,000 horses (1 Kings 10:26-29).

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The leader of the Achaemenid Empire owned 5.5 million sq. km (2.1 million sq. mi) of land. Cyrus expanded his empire, including Babylon, where he scooped up tons of gold.

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Joseph (from the Old Testament, not the father of Jesus) was also a wealthy man appointed by the Pharaoh. Indeed, he accumulated a lot of wealth from selling crops.

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“So Joseph kept on accumulating all the money that was to be found throughout Egypt and Canaan in exchange for the grain that was being purchased. He stored the money in Pharaoh’s palace," (Genesis 47:14).

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The Pharaoh, who appointed Joseph over Egypt, was, of course, a rich man. He had plenty of crops to feed everyone.

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This surplus of grain was important as a preventative measure against crop failures. The Pharaoh also owned plenty of cattle and, of course, gold.

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The king of the Assyrian Empire invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem. He had King Hezekiah pay him a hefty tribute as a result (2 Kings 18:14). This is in addition to all the riches that the ruler of an empire would obviously have.

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The king of Judah reigned for 52 years, during which time his kingdom prospered. Uzziah was passionate about the land and farming.

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The Ammonites paid tribute to him, and “his reputation extended as far as the border with Egypt,” (2 Chronicles 26:8-15).

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The patriarch of the Abrahamic religions was a wealthy man. According to Genesis 13:2, he was “quite wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold.”

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Abraham didn’t have just one bodyguard: he had a personal army of 318 men (Genesis 14:14).

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Lot was also pretty wealthy. In fact, he had so much livestock that he and Abraham had to split ways while traveling together, as there was not enough land for both.

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Genesis 13:5–7 reads: “Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks of sheep, herds, and tents. But the land could not support them living together, because they had so many livestock that they could not stay together.”

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Abraham's son was also blessed with a prosperous life, even in times of famine. His land could harvest 100 times more than other people's (Genesis 26:12). This is because he had control over a number of wells (Genesis 26:17-32).

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According to Genesis 26:14, “He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him.”

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Job 1:3 describes some of Job’s possessions: “His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants.”

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God gave Job his wealth. In fact, he doubled it! “The Lord restored Job’s prosperity after he prayed for his friends. The Lord doubled everything that Job had once possessed,” (Job 42:10).

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Brothers Jacob and Esau were not poor either. “Later, Esau took his wives, his children, everyone in his household, his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions that he had acquired in the territory of Canaan and moved far away from his brother Jacob, because their holdings were too vast to allow them to stay together, since the land where they had settled was not able to support all of their livestock,” (Genesis 36:6–7).

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The riches of the king of Judah are also mentioned in the Bible. “Therefore the Lord secured Jehoshaphat’s kingdom under his control, with all of Judah paying him tribute, and Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and greatly respected,” (2 Chronicles 17:5).

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Hezekiah was yet another wealthy king of Judah. “Hezekiah received immense wealth and honor. He built treasuries for himself to store silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all sorts of valuable items, along with storage facilities for grain, wine, oil, stalls for all sorts of cattle, and sheepfolds for his flocks, ” reads 2 Chronicles 32:27-28.

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Most wealthy biblical characters are found in the Old Testament, but this disciple of Jesus, who gave up his own tomb for Christ, was also a rich man.

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Matthew 27:57 reads: “Later that evening, a rich man arrived from Arimathea. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus.”

Sources: (History Collection) (Kukis.org) (Bible Gateway)