1 Kings 4

₁So King Solomon ruled over all Israel.

₇Solomon had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year.

₂₀The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. ₂₁And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.

₂₂Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, ₂₃ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. ₂₄For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. ₂₅During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig-tree.

₂₆Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.

₂₇The district governors, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king’s table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. ₂₈They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.

₂₉God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. ₃₀Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. ₃₁He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite – wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. ₃₂He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. ₃₃He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. ₃₄From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.