The Bible

34 verses

1 Kings Chapter 4

¹King Solomon was king over all Israel.

²These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ⁵and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, [and] 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 officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

⁸These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; ⁹Ben Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; ¹⁰Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher); ¹¹Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon [to be his] wife); ¹²Baana 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; ¹³Ben 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, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon [to be his] wife); ¹⁶Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber 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 who was in the land.

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

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

²²Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ²³ten head of fat cattle, and twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.

²⁴For he ruled 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 around him.

²⁵Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

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

²⁷Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

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

²⁹God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

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

³¹For 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 all around.

³²He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.

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