1 Kings
Chapter 4
1 King Solomon ruled over all Israel.
2 God had leaders. Azariah, son of Zadok the priest, was one of them.
3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, Shisha’s sons, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat, Ahilud’s son, was the historian.
4 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, led the army; Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.
5 Azariah, Nathan’s son, was in charge of the officers, and Zabud, Nathan’s son, was the chief officer and the king’s friend.
6 Ahishar was in charge of the household, and Adoniram, Abda’s son, was responsible for collecting taxes.
7 Solomon had twelve officers for all of Israel, who supplied food for the king and his household. Each one took a month per year to provide.
8 Their names are: Hur’s son, in the Ephraim hills:
9 Dekar’s son was over Makaz, Shaalbim, Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan.
10 Hesed’s son was in charge of Aruboth; he also controlled Sochoh and the entire area of Hepher.
11 Abinadab’s son, who was in charge of the Dor area, was married to Taphath, Solomon’s daughter.
12 Baana, Ahilud’s son, was responsible for Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Bethshean near Zartanah below Jezreel, stretching from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, and up to the area past Jokneam.
13 Geber’s son was in charge of Ramoth in Gilead and the towns of Jair, Manasseh’s son, which are in Gilead. He also controlled the area of Argob in Bashan with sixty big cities that have walls and bronze gates.
14 Ahinadab, Iddo’s son, was in charge of Mahanaim.
15 Ahimaaz lived in Naphtali and married Basmath, Solomon’s daughter.
16 Baanah, Hushai’s son, was in Asher and Aloth.
17 Jehoshaphat, Paruah’s son, was in Issachar.
18 Shimei, son of Elah, was from the tribe of Benjamin.
19 Geber, Uri’s son, was in Gilead, Sihon the Amorite king’s land, and Og the Bashan king’s land; he was the only official there.
20 Judah and Israel had many people, like the sand by the sea, eating, drinking, and being happy.
21 Solomon ruled over all kingdoms from the river to the Philistine lands, and to Egypt’s border: they gave gifts and served Solomon all his life.
22 Solomon’s daily food supply was thirty measures of fine flour and sixty measures of grain.
23 Ten fat oxen, twenty oxen from the fields, and a hundred sheep, plus deer, roebucks, fallow deer, and fat birds.
24 He ruled over all the area by the river, from Tiphsah to Azzah, over all the kings by the river, and he had peace all around him.
25 Judah and Israel lived in safety, each person under their own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, during all of Solomon’s time.
26 Solomon had 40,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 riders.
27 Those officers supplied food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon’s table, every man during his month; they were missing nothing.
28 They brought barley and straw to the place where the officers were for the horses and camels, each person according to their responsibility.
29 God gave Solomon great wisdom, deep understanding, and a big heart, as many as the sands on the seashore.
30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of everyone in the eastern lands and all the wisdom of Egypt.
31 He was smarter than everyone; smarter than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and people everywhere knew about him.
32 He spoke three thousand wise sayings, and he had one thousand and five songs.
33 He talked about trees, from the tall cedars of Lebanon to the small hyssop plants that grow in walls. He also talked about animals, birds, crawling creatures, and fish.
34 People from everywhere came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, including all the kings of the earth who had heard about it.