1 Kings 4:21-5:18

Lexham English Bible

Solomon’s Wisdom: Prosperity

^21 [a] Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River^[b] to the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life. ²² The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour; ²³ ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls. ²⁴ For he was ruling over all the west of the River^[c] from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River;^[d] and he had peace from every side all around. ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

²⁶ Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each in his month; they did not omit anything. ²⁸ The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.

Solomon’s Wisdom: Literature, Zoology, Biology, Dendrology

²⁹ God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as breadth of understanding,^[e] as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore. ³⁰ The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people^[f] of the east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and he was very well known.^{[g] 32} He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. ³³ He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which is in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish. ³⁴ They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Solomon’s Wisdom: Architecture

5 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David. ² Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, ³ “You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, in view of the warfare^[h] which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them^[i] under the soles of his feet. ⁴ But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence. ⁵ Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.’ ⁶ So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” ⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, “Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” ⁸ Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses. ⁹ My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts in the sea to float to the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry them further, and you shall meet my needs^[j] by giving food for my house.” ¹⁰ So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, everything he needed.^{[k] 11} Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat as food for his household, and twenty dry measures of specially prepared olive oil;^[l] thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. ¹² Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made^[m] a covenant.

¹³ Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand every month;^[n] the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand common laborers^[o] and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country. ¹⁶ Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work. ¹⁷ When the king commanded, they quarried great stones and precious stones to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites hewed stones, and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.