Read the Bible

¹ And king Solomon was king over all Israel. ² And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ⁵ and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was priest, [and] the king’s friend; ⁶ and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the levy. ⁷ And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year: ⁸ And these are their names: Ben–hur, in the hill country of Ephraim: ⁹ Ben–deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth–shemesh, and Elon–beth–hanan: ¹⁰ Ben–hesed, in Arubboth; to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher: ¹¹ Ben–abinadab, in all the height of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife: ¹² Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth–shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth–shean to Abel–meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam: ¹³ Ben–geber, in Ramoth–gilead; to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; [even] to him [pertained] the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars: ¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim: ¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife: ¹⁶ Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth: ¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar: ¹⁸ Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin: 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 was] the only officer which was in the land.

²⁰ Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. ²¹ And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. ²² And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal; ²³ ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl. ²⁴ For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the River, from Tipsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides round about him. ²⁵ And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer–sheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶ And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they let nothing be lacking. ²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they unto the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his charge.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. ³⁰ And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about. ³² And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. ³³ And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. ³⁴ And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.