1 Kings 4

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

4 King Solomon was king over all Israel.

² These were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the [high] priest;

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

⁴ Benaiah son of Jehoiada commanded the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵ Azariah son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud son of Nathan was priest and the king’s friend and private advisor;

⁶ Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

⁷ Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who secured provisions for the king and his household; each man had to provide for a month in a year.

⁸ These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

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

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

¹¹ Ben-abinadab, in Naphoth-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as wife);

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

¹³ Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him belonged the villages of Jair son of Manasseh which are in Gilead, also the region of Argob which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife);

¹⁶ Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸ Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri, in Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; only one officer was over all the country [at one time, each serving for one month].

²⁰ Judah and Israel were many, like the sand which is by the sea in multitude; they ate, drank, and rejoiced.

²¹ Solomon reigned ^[a]over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] 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.

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

²³ Ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl of choice kinds.

²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region west of the [Euphrates] River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River, and he had peace on all sides around him.

²⁵ Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all of Solomon’s days.

²⁶ Solomon also had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.

²⁷ And those officers provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to his table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it was needed, each according to his assignment.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon exceptionally much wisdom and understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand of the seashore.

³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹ For he was wiser ^[b]than all other men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. His fame was in all the nations round about.

³² He also originated 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.

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

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