1 Kings 4

1 And King Solomon is king over all Israel, 2 and these are the heads whom he has: Azariah son of Zadok is the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah sons of Shisha are scribes; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud is remembrancer; 4 and Benaiah son of Jehoiada is over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar are priests; 5 and Azariah son of Nathan is over the officers; and Zabud son of Nathan is minister, friend of the king; 6 and Ahishar is over the household, and Adoniram son of Abda is over the tribute. 7 And Solomon has twelve officers over all Israel, and they have sustained the king and his household—a month in the year is on each one for sustenance; 8 and these are their names: Ben-Hur in the hill-country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-Dekar in Makaz, and Shaalbim, and Beth-Shemesh, and Elon-Beth-Hanan; 10 Ben-Hesed, in Aruboth, has Sochoh and all the land of Hepher; 11 Ben-Abinadab has all the elevation of Dor; Taphath daughter of Solomon became his wife; 12 Baana Ben-Ahilud has Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-Shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-Shean to Abel-Meholah, to beyond Jokneam; 13 Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-Gilead, has the small towns of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; he has a portion of Argob that is in Bashan—sixty great cities with wall and bronze bar; 14 Ahinadab son of Iddo has Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz is in Naphtali; he also has taken Basemath daughter of Solomon for a wife; 16 Baanah Ben-Hushai is in Asher, and in Aloth; 17 Jehoshaphat Ben-Paruah is in Issachar; 18 Shimei Ben-Elah is in Benjamin; 19 Geber Ben-Uri is in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorite, and of Og king of Bashan: and he is the one officer who is in the land. 20 Judah and Israel are many, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. 21 And Solomon has been ruling over all the kingdoms, from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt: they are bringing a present near, and serving Solomon, all the days of his life. 22 And the provision of Solomon for one day is thirty cors of flour, and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, and twenty feeding oxen, and one hundred sheep, apart from deer, and roe, and fallow-deer, and fatted beasts of the stalls, 24 for he is ruling over all beyond the river, from Tiphsah and to Gaza, over all the kings beyond the River, and he has peace from all his surrounding servants. 25 And Judah dwells—and Israel—in confidence, each under his vine, and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 And Solomon has forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And these officers have sustained King Solomon and everyone drawing near to the table of King Solomon, each in his month; they let nothing be lacking. 28 And the barley and the straw, for horses and for dromedaries, they bring to the place where they are, each according to his ordinance. 29 And God gives very much wisdom and understanding to Solomon, and breadth of heart, as the sand that is on the edge of the sea; 30 and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt; 31 and he is wiser than all men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol, and his name is in all the surrounding nations. 32 And he speaks three thousand allegories, and his songs are one thousand and five; 33 and he speaks concerning the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaks concerning the livestock, and concerning the bird, and concerning the crawling things, and concerning the fishes, 34 and there come out those of all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who have heard of his wisdom.


Next: Chapter 5

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