1 Kings 4:21–34

^21*Solomon’s kingdom included all the nations from the River Euphrates to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.

²²The supplies Solomon needed each day were 5,000 litres of fine flour and 10,000 litres of meal; ²³ten stall-fed cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and poultry.

²⁴Solomon ruled over all the land west of the River Euphrates, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him, and he was at peace with all the neighbouring countries. ²⁵As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety, each family with its own grapevines and fig trees.

^26*Solomon had 40,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 cavalry horses. ²⁷His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed. ²⁸Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw, where it was needed,ⁱ for the chariot horses and the draught animals.

²⁹God gave Solomon unusual wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured. ³⁰Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt. ^31*He was the wisest of all men: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread throughout all the neighbouring countries. ^32*He composed 3,000 proverbs and more than a thousand songs. ³³He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls; he talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to him.