1 Kings 4

1 Solomon was the king who ruled all of Israel,

And king Solomon was king over all Israel.

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

And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok, 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, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

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

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and 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.

and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was priest, [and] the king’s friend;

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].

and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the levy.

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.

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year:

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

And these are 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, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan:

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

Ben-hesed, in Arubboth; to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher:

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

Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to 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 the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond 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; to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; [even] to him [pertained] the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:

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

Ahinadab the 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 also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife:

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

Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth:

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

Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar:

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

Shimei the 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 the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and [he was] the only officer which was in the land.

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.

Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

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 ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, 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,

And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures 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, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl.

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 he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the River, from Tipsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides round about him.

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.

And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

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).

And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

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.

And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they let nothing be 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.

Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they unto the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his charge.

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 and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

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

And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and 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.

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about.

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

And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were 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.

And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

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].

And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.