1 Kings 4

1 Solomon was the king who ruled all of Israel,

So King Solomon ruled over Israel,

2 and these were his most important officials: Zadok’s son Azariah was the priest.

and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

3 Shisha’s sons Elihoreph and Ahijah were the [official] secretaries. Ahilud’s son Jehoshaphat was the one who announced to the people the king’s decisions.

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

4 Benaiah was the commander of the army. Zadok and Abiathar were also priests.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Nathan’s son Azariah was the administrator of the governors. Another of Nathan’s sons, Zabud, was a priest and the king’s chief advisor.

Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;

6 Ahishar supervised the servants who worked in the palace. Abda’s son Adoniram supervised the men who were forced to do work [for the government].

Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

7 Solomon appointed twelve men, one to govern [each of the regions] in Israel. They also were required to provide food for the king and all the others who lived and worked in the palace. Each man was required to provide from his own region the food for one month each year.

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 Their names were: Ben-Hur, for the hilly area of the tribe of Ephraim.

and these were their names: Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim;

9 Ben-Deker, for Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-Shemesh, and Elon-Bethhanan [cities];

Ben-deker in Makaz, in Shaalbim, in Beth-shemesh, and in Elon-beth-hanan;

10 Ben-Hesed, for Arubboth and Socoh [towns] and the area near Hepher [town];

Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

11 Ben-Abinadab, who was married to Solomon’s daughter Taphath, for all the Dor district;

Ben-abinadab in Naphath-dor (Taphath, a daughter of Solomon, was his wife);

12 Ahilud’s son Baana, for Taanach and Megiddo [towns], and all the region near Zarethan [city], and from Beth-Shan [city] south of Jezreel as far as Abel-Meholah [town] and Jokmeam [city];

Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;

13 Ben-Geber, for Ramoth [city] in [the] Gilead [region], and for the villages in Gilead that belonged to Jair, who was a descendant of Manasseh, and the Argob area in [the] Bashan [region]. There were 60 large towns in that region altogether, each town with a wall around it and bronze bars across the gates.

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 Iddo’s son Ahinadab, for Mahanaim [city east of the Jordan River];

Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz, who had married Solomon’s daughter Basemath, for [the territory of the tribe of] Naphtali;

Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he had married Basemath, a daughter of Solomon);

16 Hushai’s son Baana, for [the territory of the tribe of] Asher and for Aloth [town];

Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;

17 Paruah’s son Jehoshaphat, for [the territory of the tribe of] Issachar;

Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar;

18 Ela’s son Shimei, for [the territory of the tribe of] Benjamin;

Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin;

19 Uri’s son Geber, for the Gilead region, the land that Sihon the king of the Amor people-group [formerly ruled], and the Bashan [area], which was the area that Og [formerly ruled]. [In addition to all those], Solomon appointed one governor for the [territory of the] tribe of Judah.

Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.

20 There were as many people in Judah and Israel as there are grains of sand [HYP] on the seashore. They [had plenty to] eat and drink and they were happy.

The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

21 Solomon’s kingdom extended from the Euphrates [River in the northeast] to the Philistia area [in the west] and to the border of Egypt [in the south]. The [conquered] people in those areas paid taxes and were under Solomon’s control for the rest of his life.

And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates 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 [To feed the people in his palace and his guests] Solomon needed people to bring to him every day 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of wheat,

Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

23 ten cattle that were kept in stalls/barns, 20 cattle that were kept in pastures, 100 sheep, and (deer and gazelles and roebucks/three kinds of deer), and poultry.

ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

24 Solomon ruled over all the area west of the Euphrates [River], from Tiphsah [city in the northeast] to Gaza [city in the southwest]. He ruled over all the kings in that area. And there was peace between his [government] and the [governments of] nearby countries.

For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates —over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

25 All during the years that Solomon ruled, the people of Judah and Israel lived safely. Each family had its own grapevines and fig trees.

Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

26 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for the horses [that pulled] his chariots and 12,000 men who rode on horses (OR, in the chariots).

Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.

27 His twelve governors supplied the food that King Solomon needed for himself and for all those who ate in the palace. Each governor supplied food for one month each year. They provided everything [LIT] that Solomon required.

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 They also brought [stalks of] barley and wheat for the fast horses [that pulled the chariots] and for the [other work] horses. They brought it to the places where the horses were kept.

Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

29 God enabled Solomon to be extremely wise and to have great insight/understanding. He understood about more things than the number of grains of sand on the seashore [HYP].

And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.

30 He was wiser than all the wise men in Arabia and Mesopotamia and all the wise men in Egypt.

Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 Ethan from Ezrah and Heman and Calcol and Darda and the sons of Mahol were [considered to be] very wise, but Solomon was wiser than all of them. People in all the nearby countries heard about Solomon.

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 He composed/wrote 3,000 (proverbs/wise sayings) and more than 1,000 songs.

Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

33 He talked about various kinds of plants, from the [huge] cedar trees in Lebanon to the [tiny] hyssop plants that grow in cracks in walls. He also talked about wild animals and birds and reptiles and fish.

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 People came from all over the world to hear the wise things that Solomon said. Many kings sent men to listen to him [and then return and tell them what Solomon said].

So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.