1 Kings 4

Solomon’s Officials

1Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was 1the priest; 3Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were secretaries; 2Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 4and 3Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and 4Abiathar were priests; 5and Azariah the son of Nathan was over 5the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s friend; 6and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

7Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who 6provided for the king and his household; each man had to 7provide for a month in the year. 8These are their names: Ben-hur, in the 8hill country of Ephraim; 9Ben-deker in Makaz and 9Shaalbim and 10Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; 10Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (11Socoh was his and all the land of 12Hepher); 11Ben-abinadab, in all 13the 14height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); 12Baana the son of Ahilud, in 15Taanach and Megiddo, and all 16Beth-shean which is beside 17Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to 18Abel-meholah as far as the other side of 19Jokmeam; 13Ben-geber, in 20Ramoth-gilead (21the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: 22the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); 14Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in 23Mahanaim; 1524Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); 16Baana the son of 25Hushai, in Asher and 26Bealoth; 17Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 1827Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, 28the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only deputy who was in the land.

Solomon’s Power, Wealth and Wisdom

2029Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the 30seashore in abundance; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

213132Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms 33from the 34River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; 35they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22Solomon’s 36provision for one day was thirty 37kors of fine flour and sixty 38kors of meal, 23ten fat oxen, twenty 39pasture-fed oxen, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24For he had dominion over everything 40west of the 41River, from Tiphsah even to 42Gaza, 43over all the kings 44west of the 45River; and 46he had peace on all sides around about him. 2547So Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, 48from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 2649Solomon had 5040,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. 27Those deputies 51provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking. 28They also brought barley and straw for the horses and 52swift steeds to the place where it should be, each according to his charge.

29Now 53God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of 54mind, 55like the sand that is on the seashore. 30Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all 56the sons of the east and 57all the wisdom of Egypt. 31For 58he was wiser than all men, than 59Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, 60Calcol and 61Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his 62fame was known in all the surrounding nations. 3263He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. 33He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. 3464Men 65came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.