Solomon¡¯s grandeur
1 King Solomon was king over all Israel
2 and had the following for his high officials: Azariah, son of Zadok, was
the priest;
3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat, son
of Ahilud, was recorder;
4 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was general of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were
priests;
5 Aza riah, son of Nathan, was head of the officers; Zabud, son of Nathan,
was priest and the king¡¯s personal adviser;
6 Abishar was in charge of the palace; and Ado niram, son of Abda was in
charge of forced labor.
7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel who provided food for the
king and his household; each one of them making provisions for one month
during the year.
8 These were their names: Benhur, in the hill country of Ephraim;
9 Bendeker, in Makaz; Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan;
10 Ben hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of
Hepher);
11 Ben-abinadab, in all of Naphath-dor (he had Taphath, daughter of Solomon,
for his wife);
12 Baana, son of Ahilud, in Taanach; Megiddo and all of Beth-shean beside
Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abelmeholah, as far as Jok
meam and beyond;
13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair, son of
Manasseh, which are in Gilead, as also the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty
big towns, walled and barred with brazen bars);
14 Ahinadab, son of Iddo, in Maha naim;
15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, daughter of Solomon, for 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 country of Sihon king of
the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was also an attendant in
the land of Judah.
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, eating and
drinking, and making merry.
21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the
Philistines and on to the frontiers of Egypt. All these paid tribute and
served Solomon during his lifetime.
22 Solomon¡¯s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors
of meal,
23 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts,
gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.
24 He ruled over all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tipshah to Gaza
and over all its kings, and he had peace on all frontiers.
25 Judah and Israel lived in security, from Dan to Beersheba, and everyone
was safe under his vine and under his fig tree, for as long as Solomon
lived.
26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve
thousand horsemen.
27 All these governors supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all his
guests at table, each one providing during his assigned month and seeing
that nothing was lacking.
28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift studs
wherever the king stayed, each one doing this during his appointed month.
29 God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as
the sand on the shore,
30 so that his wisdom surpassed that of all the people of the east and of
the Egyptians.
31 He was wiser than any man; wiser than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman,
Calcot and Darda, sons of Mahol; and his fame spread among all the
surrounding nations.
32 He composed three thousand proverbs and knew a thousand and five songs.
33 He took his examples from all the trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the
hyssop that grows out of the wall; he spoke also of the beasts and birds,
and reptiles and fish.
34 People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon; all the kings
of the earth who had heard of his wisdom sent messengers to listen to him.