Solomon’s Power, Wealth, and Wisdom

20 (A)Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the [a]seashore in abundance; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

21 [b](B)Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms (C)from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; (D)they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s [c]provision for one day was [d]thirty kors of fine flour and [e]sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty [f]pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened geese. 24 For he was ruling over everything [g]west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to (E)Gaza, (F)over all the kings [h]west of the River; and (G)he had peace on all sides surrounding him. 25 (H)So Judah and Israel lived securely, everyone under his vine and his fig tree, (I)from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 (J)Solomon had [i]forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those deputies provided food for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they allowed nothing to be lacking. 28 They also brought barley and straw for the war horses and (K)baggage horses to the place where it was required, each deputy according to his duty.

29 Now (L)God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of [j]mind, (M)like the sand that is on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all (N)the [k]people of the east and (O)all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For (P)he was wiser than all other people, more than (Q)Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, (R)Calcol, and [l]Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his [m]fame was known in all the surrounding nations. 32 (S)He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 33 He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. 34 People (T)came from all the [n]nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 4:20 Lit sea
  2. 1 Kings 4:21 Ch 5:1 in Heb
  3. 1 Kings 4:22 Lit bread
  4. 1 Kings 4:22 About 231 cubic feet or 6.5 cubic meters
  5. 1 Kings 4:22 About 462 cubic feet or 13 cubic meters
  6. 1 Kings 4:23 Lit oxen of the pasture
  7. 1 Kings 4:24 Lit beyond
  8. 1 Kings 4:24 Lit beyond
  9. 1 Kings 4:26 One LXX ms reads 4,000, cf. 2 Chr 9:25
  10. 1 Kings 4:29 Lit heart
  11. 1 Kings 4:30 Lit sons
  12. 1 Kings 4:31 In 1 Chr 2:6, Dara
  13. 1 Kings 4:31 Lit name
  14. 1 Kings 4:34 Lit peoples

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