1 Kings 4

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

⁷Solomon had twelve district officers over all Israel supplying provisions for the king and his household; each supplied provisions one month a year. ⁸These are their names: Ben-Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; ⁹Ben-Deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; ¹⁰Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him); ¹¹Ben-Abinadab, in all the heights of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); ¹²Baana 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; ¹³Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-gilead (Jair son of Manasseh's villages in Gilead were his, plus Argob's region in Bashan—sixty great walled cities with bronze bars); ¹⁴Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he too had taken a daughter of Solomon, Basemath, as his wife); ¹⁶Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber 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

²⁰Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea; they ate, drank, and rejoiced. ²¹Solomon 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. ²²Solomon's daily provision: about 180 bushels of fine flour and 360 bushels of meal, ²³ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roe deer, and fattened poultry. ²⁴He ruled all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all its kings, and had peace on every side. ²⁵Judah and Israel lived safely, each under their own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all Solomon's days. ²⁶Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. ²⁷Those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to his table, each in his month, leaving nothing short. ²⁸They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it was needed, each according to his assigned duty.

²⁹Our Father gave Solomon wisdom, very great understanding, and breadth of heart like sand on the seashore. ³⁰Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the eastern peoples and all Egypt's wisdom. ³¹He was wiser than anyone—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol—and his fame reached all the surrounding nations. ³²He spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. ³³He spoke of trees, from Lebanon's cedar to the hyssop on the wall; and of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. ³⁴People came from all nations to hear Solomon's wisdom, sent by all earth's kings who had heard of it.