1 Kings 4

¹ And king Solomon was king over all Israel.

² And these were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

⁴ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵ and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, and the king’s friend;

⁶ and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to taskwork.

⁷ And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

⁸ And these are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim;

⁹ Ben-deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

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

¹¹ Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife);

¹² Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;

¹³ Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; even to him pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars);

¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife);

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

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸ Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹ Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer that was in the land.

²⁰ Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

²¹ And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,

²³ ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl.

²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides round about him.

²⁵ And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

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

²⁷ And those officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.

³⁰ And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹ For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about.

³² And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five.

³³ And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

³⁴ And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.