1Ki 4 | BSB | STEP | So King Solomon ruled over Israel,

1 Kings 4

Solomon's Princes

1 So King Solomon ruled over Israel, 2 and these were his chief officials : Azariah son of Zadok [was] the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, [were] secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud [was] the recorder; 4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada [was] in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar [were] priests; 5 Azariah son of Nathan [was] in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan [was] a priest and adviser to the king; 6 Ahishar [was] in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda [was] in charge of the labor force.

Solomon's Twelve Officers

7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel to provide food for the king and his household. [Each] one would arrange provisions for one month of the year , 8 and 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 ( Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him ) ; 11 Ben-abinadab in Naphath-dor (Taphath, a daughter of Solomon, was his wife ) ; 12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead ( the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead [belonged] to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars ) ; 14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he had married Basemath, a daughter of Solomon ) ; 16 Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth; 17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar; 18 Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin; 19 Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only governor in the land [of Judah] .

Solomon's Wealth

20 Judah and Israel [became] as numerous as the sand by the sea, eating and drinking and rejoicing. 21 And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] ^{▼▼Hebrew the River} to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. [These kingdoms] offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors ^{▼▼That is, probably about 5.5 tons or 5 metric tons of flour} of fine flour, sixty cors ^{▼▼That is, probably about 11 tons or 10 metric tons of meal} of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry. 24 For [Solomon] had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates— ^{▼▼Hebrew the River} over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza— and he had peace on all sides. 25 Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree. 26 Solomon had four ^{▼▼Some LXX manuscripts (see also 2 Chronicles 9:25); Hebrew forty} thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horses. ^{▼▼Or horsemen or charioteers} 27 Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to [his] table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. 28 Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

Solomon's Wisdom

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than [that] of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than all men— wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread throughout the surrounding nations. 32 Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. 34 So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth when they heard of his wisdom.