1    2    ^noteKing Solomon reigned over Israel. His officers were as follows:

In charge of the calendar: ^note Azariah son of Zadok the priest. 3   Adjutant-general: ^note Ahijah son ^note of Shisha. Secretary of state: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud. 4   Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada. Priests: Zadok and Abiathar. 5   Superintendent of the regional governors: Azariah son of Nathan. King's Friend: Zabud son of Nathan. ^note 6   Comptroller of the household: Ahishar. Superintendent of the forced levy: Adoniram son of Abda.

7   Solomon had twelve regional governors over Israel and they supplied the food for the king and the royal household, each being responsible for one month's provision in the year. 8   These were their names:

Ben-hur in the hill-country of Ephraim. 9   Ben-dekar in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, Elon, and Bethhanan. ^note 10   Ben-hesed in Aruboth; he had charge also of Socoh and all the land of Hepher. 11   Ben-abinadab, who had married Solomon's daughter Taphath, in all the district of Dor. 12   Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach and Megiddo, all Beth-shean as far as Abel-meholah beside Zartanah, and from Beth-shean below Jezreel as far as Jokmeam. 13   Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead, including the tent-villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large walled cities with gate-bars of bronze. 14   Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim. 15   Ahimaaz in Naphtali; he also had married a daughter of Solomon, Basmath. 16   Baanah son of Hushai in Asher and Aloth. 17   Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar. 18   Shimei son of Elah in Benjamin. 19   Geber son of Uri in Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. In addition, one governor over all the governors ^note in the land.

20   The people of Judah and Israel were countless as the sands of the sea; they ate and they drank, and enjoyed life. 21    ^noteSolomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river Euphrates to Philistia and as far as

The reign of Solomon the frontier of Egypt; they paid tribute and were subject to him all his life.

22   Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kor of flour and sixty kor of meal, 23   ten fat oxen and twenty oxen from the pastures and a hundred sheep, as well as stags, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24   For he was paramount over all the land west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, ruling all the kings west of the river; and he enjoyed peace on all sides. 25   All through his reign Judah and Israel continued at peace, every man under his own vine and fig-tree, from Dan to Beersheba.

26   Solomon had forty thousand chariot-horses in his stables and twelve thousand cavalry horses.

27   The regional governors, each for a month in turn, supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all who came to his table; they never fell short in their deliveries. 28   They provided also barley and straw, each according to his duty, for the horses and chariot-horses where it was required.

29   And God gave Solomon depth of wisdom and insight, and understanding as wide as the sand on the sea-shore, 30   so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed that of all the men of the east and of all Egypt. 31   For he was wiser than any man, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Kalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; his fame spread among all the surrounding nations. 32   He uttered three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33   He discoursed of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon down to the marjoram that grows out of the wall, of beasts and birds, of reptiles and fishes. 34   Men of all races came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom he received gifts. ^note

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