1 Kings Chapter 4
Solomon’s grandeur

1 King Solomon was king over all Israel

2 and had the following for his high officials: Azariah, son of Zadok, was the priest;

3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was recorder;

4 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was general of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Aza riah, son of Nathan, was head of the officers; Zabud, son of Nathan, was priest and the king’s personal adviser;

6 Abishar was in charge of the palace; and Ado niram, son of Abda was in charge of forced labor.

7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel who provided food for the king and his household; each one of them making provisions for one month during the year.

8 These were their names: Benhur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

9 Bendeker, in Makaz; Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan;

10 Ben hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher);

11 Ben-abinadab, in all of Naphath-dor (he had Taphath, daughter of Solomon, for his wife);

12 Baana, son of Ahilud, in Taanach; Megiddo and all of Beth-shean beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abelmeholah, as far as Jok meam and beyond;

13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair, son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, as also the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty big towns, walled and barred with brazen bars);

14 Ahinadab, son of Iddo, in Maha naim;

15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, daughter of Solomon, for his wife);

16 Baana, son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

17 Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, in Issachar;

18 Shimei, son of Ela, in Benjamin;

19 Geber, son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was also an attendant in the land of Judah.

20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, eating and drinking, and making merry.

21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and on to the frontiers of Egypt. All these paid tribute and served Solomon during his lifetime.

22 Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

23 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

24 He ruled over all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tipshah to Gaza and over all its kings, and he had peace on all frontiers.

25 Judah and Israel lived in security, from Dan to Beersheba, and everyone was safe under his vine and under his fig tree, for as long as Solomon lived.

26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

27 All these governors supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all his guests at table, each one providing during his assigned month and seeing that nothing was lacking.

28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift studs wherever the king stayed, each one doing this during his appointed month.

29 God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sand on the shore,

30 so that his wisdom surpassed that of all the people of the east and of the Egyptians.

31 He was wiser than any man; wiser than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcot and Darda, sons of Mahol; and his fame spread among all the surrounding nations.

32 He composed three thousand proverbs and knew a thousand and five songs.

33 He took his examples from all the trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he spoke also of the beasts and birds, and reptiles and fish.

34 People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon; all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom sent messengers to listen to him.