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¹So King Solomon ruled over Israel, ²and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;[ † ]2 Samuel 8:162 Samuel 20:24 ⁴Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;[ † ]1 Kings 2:351 Kings 2:27 ⁵Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;[ † ]1 Kings 4:72 Samuel 8:182 Samuel 20:262 Samuel 15:372 Samuel 16:161 Chronicles 27:33 ⁶Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.[ † ]1 Kings 5:14

⁷Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel to provide food for the king and his household. Each one would arrange provisions for one month of the year, ⁸and these were their names: Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim; ⁹Ben-deker in Makaz, in Shaalbim, in Beth-shemesh, and in Elon-beth-hanan; ¹⁰Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him); ¹¹Ben-abinadab in Naphath-dor (Taphath, a daughter of Solomon, was his wife); ¹²Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam; ¹³Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);[ † ]Numbers 32:411 Chronicles 2:22Deuteronomy 3:4 ¹⁴Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he had married Basemath, a daughter of Solomon);[ † ]2 Samuel 15:27 ¹⁶Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;[ † ]2 Samuel 15:321 Chronicles 27:33 ¹⁷Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin;[ † ]1 Kings 1:8

¹⁹Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.[ † ]Deuteronomy 3:8-10

²⁰The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.[ † ]Genesis 22:17Genesis 32:121 Kings 3:8Proverbs 14:28Psalms 72:3-7Micah 4:4 ²¹And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.[ † ]Exodus 34:242 Chronicles 9:26Psalms 72:8Genesis 15:18Joshua 1:4Psalms 68:29

²²Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,[ † ]Nehemiah 5:18 ²³ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry. ²⁴For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates—over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.[ † ]Psalms 72:111 Kings 5:41 Chronicles 22:9 ²⁵Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.[ † ]Jeremiah 23:6Micah 4:4Zechariah 3:10Judges 20:1

²⁶Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.[ † ]1 Kings 10:262 Chronicles 1:14Deuteronomy 17:16 ²⁷Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to his table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.[ † ]1 Kings 4:7 ²⁸Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

²⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.[ † ]1 Kings 3:12 ³⁰Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.[ † ]Genesis 25:6Isaiah 19:11-12Acts 7:22 ³¹He was wiser than all men—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread throughout the surrounding nations.[ † ]1 Kings 3:121 Chronicles 15:19Psalms 89:title1 Chronicles 2:6Psalms 88:title

³²Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.[ † ]Proverbs 1:1Proverbs 10:1Proverbs 25:1Ecclesiastes 12:9Song of Solomon 1:1 ³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

³⁴So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.[ † ]1 Kings 10:12 Chronicles 9:1-23