bible_study/Bible/1Kings/1Kgs 4.md

## Solomon's Officials 

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So King Solomon was king over all Israel. 

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These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok _was_ the priest; 

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Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha _were_ scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud _was_ the recorder; 

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and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada _was_ over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar _were_ priests; 

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and Azariah the son of Nathan _was_ over the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, _was_ the king's friend; 

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and Ahishar _was_ over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda _was_ over the men subject to forced labor. 

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Now Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who sustained the king and his household; each man had to sustain _them_ for a month in the year. 

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These are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 

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

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Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh _was_ his and all the land of Hepher); 

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Ben-abinadab, _in_ all the height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); 

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

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Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (_now_ Havvoth-Jair--_Jair being_ the son of Manasseh--which is in Gilead was his: the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars _were_ his); 

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Ahinadab the son of Iddo, _in_ Mahanaim; 

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

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Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 

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Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 

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Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 

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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 deputy who _was_ in the land. 

## Judah's and Israel's Abundance and Security 

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Judah and Israel _were_ as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance; _they_ were eating and drinking and being glad. 

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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. 

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And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal, 

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ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, one hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 

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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. 

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So Judah and Israel lived in security, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 

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

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And these deputies sustained King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon's table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking. 

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They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it should be, each according to the _legal_ judgment for him. 

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And God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of _understanding_ in _his_ heart, like the sand that is on the seashore. 

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And Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 

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And he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and _the renown of_ his name was in all the surrounding nations. 

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He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. 

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And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. 

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And men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.