1 Kings 4:21–34

^21hSolomon was sovereign over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.^i*]]

²²Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of choice flour and sixty cors of meal, ²³ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl. ²⁴For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates,^j and he had peace on all sides.^{* 25}During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all of them under their vines and fig trees.^{* 26}Solomon also had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.^{* 27}Those officials supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month; they let nothing be lacking.^{* 28}They also brought to the required place barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds, each according to his charge.

Fame of Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore,^{* 30}so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.^{* 31}He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.^{* 32}He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.^{* 33}He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. ³⁴People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.^*