The First Book of the Kings

Now King Solomon was king over all Israel.

And these were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok [was] the priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha [were] secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] the recorder;

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar [were] priests;

and Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, [was] the king's friend;

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

And Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who provided for the king and his household; each man had to provide for a month in the year.

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

Ben-deker in Makaz and Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan;

Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh [was] his and all the land of Hepher);

Ben-abinadab, [in] all the height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife);

Baana the son of Ahilud, [in] Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars [were] his);

Ahinadab the son of Iddo, [in] Mahanaim;

Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon);

Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

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 deputy who [was] in the land.

Judah and Israel [were] as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance; [they] were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

Now 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.

ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

For he had dominion over everything west of the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace on all sides around about him.

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

And Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.

And those deputies provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon's table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking.

They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it should be, each according to his charge.

Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore.

And Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was [known] in all the surrounding nations.

He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.

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

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