1 Kings 4

4 ¹ King Solomon was king over all Israel. ² These were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok, the priest; ³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴ Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests; ⁵ Azariah son of Nathan over the officers; Zabud son of Nathan, priest and the king's friend; ⁶ Ahishar over the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda over the forced labor.

⁷ Solomon had twelve district officers over all Israel supplying provisions for the king and his household; each supplied provisions one month a year. ⁸ These are 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 all the heights of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); ¹² Baana son of Ahilud: Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the far side of Jokmeam; ¹³ Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-gilead (Jair son of Manasseh's villages in Gilead were his, plus Argob's region in Bashan — sixty walled cities with bronze bars); ¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he too had taken a daughter of Solomon, Basemath, 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 the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan; the one officer in the land.

Peace and Plenty in the Land

²⁰ Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea; they ate, drank, and rejoiced. ²¹ Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served him all his life. ²² Solomon's daily provision: about 180 bushels of fine flour and 360 bushels of meal, ²³ ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. ²⁴ He ruled all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all its kings, and had peace on every side. ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived safely, each under their own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all Solomon's days. ²⁶ Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ Those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to his table, each in his month, leaving nothing short. ²⁸ They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it was needed, each according to his assigned duty.

²⁹ Our Father gave Solomon wisdom, very great understanding, and breadth of heart like sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the eastern peoples and all Egypt's wisdom. ³¹ He was wiser than anyone — than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol — and his fame reached all the surrounding nations. ³² He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. ³³ He spoke of trees, from Lebanon's cedar to the hyssop on the wall; and of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. ³⁴ People came from all nations to hear Solomon's wisdom, from all earth's kings who had heard of it.