Solomon’s Princes

1And king Solomon was King over all Israel. 2And these were the officials who were unto him:

Azariah son of Zadok the priest;

3Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha,† scribes;

Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, the recorder;

4and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, over the army;

and Zadok and Abiathar, the priests;

5and Azariah son of Nathan, over the officers;

and Zabud son of Nathan, a priest, friend of the king;

6and Ahishar, over the house;

and Adoniram† son of Abda, over the forced labor.

Solomon’s Twelve Officers

7And had Solomon twelve governors over all Israel, and they provided food for the king and his house—one month of the year was upon each one for provision. 8And these are their names:

Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim;

9Ben-deker in Makaz, and Shaalbim, and Beth-Shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

10Ben-hesed in Arubboth (to him was Sochoh and all the land of Hepher);

11Ben-abinadab in all Naphath-dor† (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was unto him as wife);

12Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all Beth-shean, which is beside Zaretan beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, to beyond Jokmeam;

13Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (unto him were the towns of Jair son of Manasseh that were in Gilead; unto him was the region of Argob that is in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars);

14Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim;

15Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

16Baanah son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;

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 Amorite and of Og king of Bashan.

There was also one governor in the land of Judah.†

Solomon’s Prosperity

20Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. 21And Solomon was reigning over all kingdoms from the River† to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22And the provision of Solomon for one day was thirty cors of fine flour,† and sixty cors of meal,† 23ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24For he had dominion over all on this side of the River,† from Tiphsah and to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River. And was unto him peace on all his sides all around. 25And Judah and Israel dwelt in safety, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan and to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

26And Solomon had four thousand† stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horses.† 27And these governors provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to the table of King Solomon, each man in his month. Nothing was lacking in their supply. 28And the barley and the straw for the horses and the steeds they brought to the place where it should be there, each man according to his charge.

Solomon’s Wisdom

29And God gave wisdom to Solomon, and understanding exceedingly great, and breadth of heart, like the sand that is on the shore of the sea. 30And the wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all of the sons of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31For 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 surrounding nations.

32And He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. 33And he spoke of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon and to the hyssop that comes out of the wall. And he spoke of the animals, and of the birds, and of the creeping things, and of the fish.

34And men came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

Footnotes:

3 Shisha is also called Seraiah, Sheva, and Shavsha; see 2 Samuel 8:17, 2 Samuel 20:25, and 1 Chronicles 18:16.
6 Adoniram is a variant of Adoram and Hadoram; see 2 Samuel 20:24 and 2 Chronicles 10:18.
11 Or in all the heights of Dor; Naphath-dor is a variant of Naphoth-dor; see Joshua 11:2.
19 Some LXX manuscripts; Hebrew And he was the one governor who was in the land.
21 That is, the Euphrates; also in verse 24
22 30 cors is approximately 187 bushels or 6,600 liters (probably about 5.5 tons or 5 metric tons of flour).
22 60 cors is approximately 375 bushels or 13,200 liters (probably about 11 tons or 10 metric tons of meal).
24 Or beyond the River
26 Some LXX manuscripts (see also 2 Chronicles 9:25); Hebrew 40,000
26 Or horsemen or charioteers