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1 Kings 4 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Solomon’s Officials

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:1 - King Solomon was king over all Israel,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:2 - and these were his high officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:3 - Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:4 - Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:5 - Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and king’s friend;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:6 - Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:7 - Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:8 - These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:9 - Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:10 - Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher);
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:11 - Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as his wife);
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:12 - Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean that is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:13 - Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:14 - Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:15 - Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as his wife);
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:16 - Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:17 - Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:18 - Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:19 - 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 there was one governor who was over the land.

Solomon’s Wealth and Wisdom

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:20 - Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:21 - [fn] Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates[fn] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:22 - Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors[fn] of fine flour and sixty cors of meal,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:23 - ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:24 - For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates[fn] from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:25 - And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:26 - Solomon also had 40,000[fn] stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:27 - And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:28 - Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:29 - And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:30 - so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:31 - For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:32 - He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:33 - He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 4:34 - And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
ESV Footnotes
Ch 5:1 in Hebrew
Hebrew the River
A cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
Hebrew the River; twice in this verse
Hebrew; one Hebrew manuscript (see 2 Chronicles 9:25 and Septuagint of 1 Kings 10:26) 4,000
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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