1 Kings Chapter 4 — Solomon’s Wisdom and Administration

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;

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

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

⁶Ahishar 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, in Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

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

¹¹Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as 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 (the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, belonged to him; and the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars, belonged to him);

¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as 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 numerous 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 cors*1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 liters or 6 bushels of fine flour, sixty measures of meal,

²³ten head of fat cattle, twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

²⁴For he had dominion over all on this side of the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of 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.

²⁸They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty.

²⁹God gave Solomon abundant wisdom, understanding, and breadth of mind like 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—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, 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 numbered one thousand five.

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

³⁴People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.