Chapter 4

  King Solomon was king over all Israel.  

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  These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;  

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  Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;  

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  and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;  

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  and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, [and] the king's friend;  

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  and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.  

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

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  These are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim;  

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

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

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  Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife);  

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  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;  

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  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, sixty great cities with walls and brazen bars);  

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  Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;  

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  Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);  

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  Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;  

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  Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;  

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  Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;  

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  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 who was in the land.  

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

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  Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life.  

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  Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal,  

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  ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.  

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

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  Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.  

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

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  Those officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.  

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

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  God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.  

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  Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.  

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  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.  

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  He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.  

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  He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.  

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  There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.  

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