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New Testament
1 Kings 4
King Solomon's Administration
41So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2These were his important officials:
3Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were the secretaries.
4Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the army.
Zadok and Abiathar were priests.
5Azariah son of Nathan was supervisor over the governors.
6Ahishar was the palace administrator,
and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of forced labor.
7Solomon had twelve governors, who were over all Israel. They supplied provisions for the king and for his palace. Each of them was assigned one month of the year during which he was responsible for supplying provisions. 8These were their names:
9Ben Deker in Makaz and in Sha'albim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan,
10Ben Hesed in Arubboth (Sokoh and all the land of Hepher were his),
12Ba'ana son of Ahilud in Ta'anach and Megiddo, and in all Beth Shan, which is beside Zarethan, below Jezre'el, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah, up to the other side of Jokmeam,
13Ben Geber in Ramoth Gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, and the region of Argob in Bashan belonged to him, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars),
14Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim,
15Ahima'az in Naphtali (he was married to Solomon's daughter Basemath),
16Ba'ana son of Hushai in Asher and in Be'aloth,
17Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar,
18Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin,
19Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead (this included the land of both Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, but there was only one governor for that land).
The Glory of Solomon's Rule
20Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea. They were eating, drinking, and rejoicing. 21Solomon was ruling all the kingdoms from the River[] to the land of the Philistines, up to the border of Egypt. They sent tribute and workers to Solomon all the days of his life.[] 22Solomon's provisions for one day were one hundred eighty bushels[] of fine flour and three hundred sixty bushels[] of plain flour, 23ten stall-fed cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, not to mention deer, gazelle, roebucks, and fattened poultry.
24Since Solomon was ruling over everything west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kingdoms west of the River, he had peace on all sides. 25Judah and Israel lived in safety, with every man sitting under his own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, throughout Solomon's days. 26Solomon had four thousand[] teams[] of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand charioteers.
27His governors supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all those who gathered at King Solomon's table. Each governor was responsible for one month, so the court lacked nothing. 28They brought the barley and straw for the horses and steeds[] to the location assigned to each one of them.
29God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding and breadth of knowledge[] like the sand on the seashore. 30Solomon's wisdom was greater than all the wisdom of the men of the East and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31He was wiser than any man, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, Kalkol, or Darda, the sons of Mahol. His name was known in all the surrounding nations. 32He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five. 33He spoke about trees, from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles and other crawling things, and fish. 34From all the peoples and from all the kings of the earth who heard about Solomon's wisdom, people came to listen to his wisdom.
Footnotes
- 4:2 Or grandson. See 1 Chronicles 6:8-9.
- 4:3 The record keeper served as a spokesman and chief of protocol. Like the secretary, he was a cabinet-level official.
- 4:5 Literally the friend of the king
- 4:8 Names beginning with ben (son of) are usually not personal names, but patronymics (family names like the English Johnson). The presence of so many names beginning with ben in this list is unusual and has led some commentators to conclude that some personal names are missing.
- 4:11 Or Naphoth Dor
- 4:21 That is, the Euphrates
- 4:21 The chapter division is different in the Hebrew text. English 4:21–34 equals Hebrew 5:1–14. English 5:1–18 equals Hebrew 5:15–32.
- 4:22 Literally thirty cors. The sizes of the cor and other ancient measures of volume are uncertain.
- 4:22 Literally sixty cors
- 4:26 Four thousand is the reading of some manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament and the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 9:25. The Hebrew text reads forty thousand. Four thousand chariots correlates well with twelve thousand charioteers, at three crew members per chariot.
- 4:26 Or stalls
- 4:28 The text has the common word for horses followed by a second name for another type of horse. The precise meaning of the second term is uncertain.
- 4:29 Literally breadth of heart