1 Kings 4:20-34

20The people in Judah and Israel were too many to count. There were as many of them as the sand on the shore of the sea. They had enough to eat and to drink and they were happy.

21Solomon ruled over all the nations from the Euphrates river to the land of the Philistines, as far as Egypt's border. The people of these kingdoms paid taxes to Solomon. They served him all the days of his life.

22This is the food that Solomon and the people in his palace ate each day: 5,000 litres of flour. 10,000 litres of grain.

2310 fat calves that they fed with grain. 20 calves that ate grass in the fields. 100 sheep. Many kinds of deer and fat birds.

24Solomon ruled all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates river, from Tiphsah as far as Gaza. There was peace in all these places.

25While Solomon was alive, Judah and Israel were safe from their enemies. In the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba, every family had a place to live and they could grow food to eat.

26Solomon had places to keep 4,000 horses that pulled his chariots. He also had 12,000 horses.

27The 12 officers in each region supplied food for King Solomon and for everybody that ate in his palace. Each region supplied food for one month each year so that there was enough for everyone.

28Each officer also supplied barley and straw for the king's horses. They took the right amount to the different places where the horses lived.

29God gave Solomon wisdom so that he understood things well. He knew about everything, more things than there is sand on the shore of the sea!

30Solomon was wiser than all the wise men in the East and all the wise men in Egypt.

31He was wiser than any other man. This includes Ethan the Ezrahite, as well as Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. Solomon was famous in all the nations around Israel.

32He wrote down 3,000 proverbs and he wrote 1,005 songs.

33He could describe many plants. These included large trees like cedar trees that grow in Lebanon and small plants like hyssop that grows on walls. He also taught people about all kinds of animals, birds, insects and fish.

34People came from all countries to listen to Solomon's wise teaching. Kings of all the nations in the world who heard about Solomon's wisdom sent people to learn from him.