4:1  Now King Solomon became king over all Israel.

4:2  These we identify as his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok served as the priest;

4:3  Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha served as secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud served as the recorder;

4:4  and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ruled over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar served as the priests;

4:5  and Azariah the son of Nathan presided over the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, became the king's friend;

4:6  and Ahishar presided over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda presided over the men subject to forced labor.

4:7  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.

4:8  These we identify as their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

4:9  Ben-deker in Makaz and Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan;

4:10  Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh became his and all the land of Hepher);

4:11  Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon became his wife);

4:12  Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which stands beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

4:13  Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which lie in Gilead belonged to him: the region of Argob, which lies in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars belonged to him);

4:14  Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

4:15  Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon);

4:16  Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

4:17  Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

4:18  Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

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 he served as the only deputy who lived in the land.

4:20  Judah and Israel grew as numerous as the sand that lies on the seashore in abundance; they ate and drank and rejoiced.

4:21  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.

4:22  Solomon's provision for one day consisted of thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal,

4:23  ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

4:24  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.

4:25  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.

4:26  Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.

4:27  Those deputies provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon's table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking.

4:28  They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it should go, each according to his charge.

4:29  Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that lie on the seashore.

4:30  Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

4:31  For he grew wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame spread through all the surrounding nations.

4:32  He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005.

4:33  He spoke of trees, from the cedars that lie in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish.

4:34  Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.