King Solomon's officials
1Solomon was the king_of_Israel. 2Here are the names of his officials:
Azariah, son of Zadok, was the priest,
3Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were the secretaries and Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the leader of all the officials who wrote down everything for the king.
4Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was the chief of the army, Zadok and Abiathar were priests, 5Azariah, son of Nathan, was leader of the district governors and Zabud, son of Nathan, was a priest and an advisor of the king.
6Ahishar was the leader of the officials who worked in the palace and Adoniram, son of Abda, was the chief of all the workers.
7Solomon had 12 district governors in the land_of_Israel. They had to bring food for the king and the people in his palace. Each governor had to bring enough food for one month in the year. 8Here are the names of these district governors: Ben-Hur was governor in the hill_country of Ephraim,
9Ben-Deker was in the towns of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-Shemesh and Elon-Bethhanan, 10Ben-Hesed was in the towns of Arubboth, Sokoh and the Hepher district,
11and Ben-Abinadab was in the Naphoth-Dor district. Ben-Abinadab was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath. 12Baana, son of Ahilud, was in the towns of Taanach and Megiddo and Beth-Shan near Zarethan south of Jezreel and all the places of Beth-Shan as far as Abel-Meholah near the town of Jokmeam.
13Geber was in Ramoth in Gilead. He was the governor of the villages of Jair, son of Manasseh. These villages were in Gilead. He was also the governor of the Argob district in Bashan. There were 60 cities with strong walls and the gates had bronze locks.
14Ahinadab, son of Iddo, was in the town of Mahanaim, 15and Ahimaaz was in the Naphtali district. He was married to Basemath, another daughter of Solomon.
16Baana, son of Hushai, was in the Asher and Aloth districts, 17Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, was in the Issachar district, 18Shimei, son of Elah, was in the Benjamin district,
19and Geber, son of Uri, was in the land of Gilead, in the part of the land where Sihon had been king of the Amorites and where Og had been king of Bashan. He was the only governor in this district.
How rich and how wise was Solomon?
20There were many people in Judah and Israel, as many as the sand of the sea. They had enough to eat and to drink and they were happy. 21Solomon ruled over all the lands from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and the borders of Egypt. The people of those lands gave gifts to Solomon and they worked for him until he died. 22The food they had to bring to the people in Solomon's palace each day was 30 cors of fine flour, and 60 cors of wheat, 2310 cows from the stables and 20 cows from the field, 100 sheep and goats and also deer, gazelles, roebuck, fat chickens and geese. 24Solomon ruled over all the lands west of the Euphrates River, from the town of Tiphsah to the town of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates River had to pay tax to him. Solomon lived in peace with all the kings around Israel. 25The people of Judah and Israel lived in safety while Solomon lived, from the town of Dan in the north to the town of Beersheba in the south. Everyone had peace and could sit under his own fig tree and his vine.
26Solomon had 4 000 stables for his war-chariot horses and 12 000 horses for his soldiers. 27Each of the 12 district governors had to bring food for a month to King Solomon and to everyone who was eating at his tables. There was enough food for everyone. 28The district governors also gave enough barley and straw for all the horses.
Solomon's wisdom
29God gave Solomon a lot of wisdom and understanding. He knew about many things, as much as the sand on the beaches of the sea. 30Solomon was wiser than all the people of the East and all the wise people of Egypt. 31He had more wisdom than all the other people. He was wiser than Ethan from Ezrah and wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. The people in all the lands around Israel knew about Solomon. 32He wrote 3 000 proverbs and 1 005 songs. 33In his proverbs and songs, he talked about trees and plants, from the cedar trees on Mount Lebanon to the hyssop plant that grows on the walls. He talked about animals and birds and reptiles and fish. 34People from all nations came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. The kings of the earth who heard people talking about Solomon's wisdom sent people to listen to him.
