1 Kings 4

The Voice

4 King Solomon reigned over Israel, and these are the men who helped him do so. ² The following were his officers and administrators: The priest was Azariah (Zadok’s son); ³ the secretaries were Elihoreph and Ahijah (Shisha’s sons); the recorder was Jehoshaphat (Ahilud’s son); ⁴ the commander of the army was Benaiah (Jehoiada’s son); the priests were Zadok and Abiathar; ⁵ the commander of all the administrators was Azariah (Nathan’s son); the king’s confidant and priest was Zabud (Nathan’s son); ⁶ the household manager was Ahishar; the commander of the compulsory labor force was Adoniram (Abda’s son).

⁷ Solomon commissioned 12 administrators over the entire community of Israel. They each gave provisions for the king and his house. Each administrator provided supplies for one month out of every year. ⁸ The following were his administrators: Ben-hur from the hills of Ephraim; ⁹ Ben-deker from Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; ¹⁰ Ben-hesed from Arubboth (he possessed Socoh and all of Hepher); ¹¹ Ben-abinadab from the height of Dor (he was married to Taphath, Solomon’s daughter); ¹² Baana (Ahilud’s son) from Taanach, Megiddo, and Beth-shean, which is next to Zarethan below Jezreel (from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah) all the way to the far end of Jokmeam; ¹³ Ben-geber (Manasseh’s son) from Ramoth-gilead, which is the whole of all the towns of Jair, the towns in Gilead, the sector of Argob in Bashan, and 60 large cities which were fortified by walls and bronze bars; ¹⁴ Ahinadab (Iddo’s son) from Mahanaim; ¹⁵ Ahimaaz from Naphtali (Ahimaaz was married to Basemath, Solomon’s daughter); ¹⁶ Baana (Hushai’s son) from Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷ Jehoshaphat (Paruah’s son) from Issachar; ¹⁸ Shimei (Ela’s son) from Benjamin; ¹⁹ and finally Geber (Uri’s son) from Gilead (the land of Sihon the Amorite king, and the land of Og, Bashan’s king). Geber was the only administrator who lived in the country.

²⁰ The people of Judah and Israel were innumerable, like the grains of sand on the beach. They ate and drank and celebrated.

²¹ Solomon reigned over all the countries from the Euphrates River to Philistia and to Egypt’s border. These countries honored Solomon with gifts and remained in Solomon’s service for his entire life. ²² Solomon’s provisions for his house for one day were just over 195 bushels of the best flour and about 391 bushels of meal, ²³ 10 fattened oxen, 20 pastured oxen, 100 sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened birds.

²⁴ Solomon reigned over all places and people and kings to the west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah all the way to Gaza on the Mediterranean. Solomon’s reign had peace on all sides: ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived in peace from Dan to Beersheba, with each man under his vine and beneath his fig tree, for Solomon’s entire life.

²⁶ Solomon owned 40,000^[a] horse stalls for the chariot horses, and he had 12,000 horsemen under his command. ²⁷ The 12 administrators made provisions for King Solomon and all who sat at King’s Solomon’s table. Each agent was responsible for one month out of the year, and not one of them ever did an insufficient job. ²⁸ They also provided barley and straw for the chariot horses and war horses in their specified stalls throughout the kingdom. Each agent fulfilled his responsibilities for his appointed month.

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment: his mind was as expansive as the sands of the beach; ³⁰ his wisdom was far beyond that of the wise men of the East and of Egypt. ³¹ He was the wisest of any other man. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and Calcol and Darda (Mahol’s sons). Solomon was immensely famous in all the nearby countries. ³² He also wrote 3,000 proverbs and composed 1,005 songs. ³³ He reflected upon trees, from Lebanon’s cedars to the hyssop that blankets the walls. He reflected upon animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴ People came from every corner of the earth—sent by kings who were fascinated by Solomon’s wise reputation—to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.