CHAPTER 4
1 Forsooth king Solomon was reigning on all Israel.
2 And these were the princes which he had; Azariah, the son of Zadok, the priest; (And these were the leaders that he had; Azariah, the son of Zadok, was the priest who was over-the-year, that is, the calendar of events;)
3 Elihoreph, and Ahiah, (the) sons of Shisha, were scribes; Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was chancellor;
4 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was prince upon the host (or was the leader of the army); and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
5 Azariah, the son of Nathan, was upon them that stood nigh [to] the king (or was over those who stood close to the king, or was over the regional governors); Zabud, the son of Nathan, was[a] priest, a friend of the king;
6 and Ahishar was steward of the house; and Adoniram, the son of Abda, was upon the tributes (or was in charge of the taxes, or the levies, or was in charge of the forced labour).
7 Forsooth Solomon had twelve prefects, either chief ministers, on all Israel, that gave lifelode to the king, and to his house; soothly by each month by itself in the year, each prefect by himself ministered necessaries. (And Solomon had twelve prefects, or chief ministers, over all Israel, who gave sustenance, or food, to the king, and to his household; and each month of the year, one prefect by himself administered the necessities.)
8 And these be the names of them; Ben-hur, in the hill (country) of Ephraim;
9 Ben-dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and in Bethshemesh, and in Elon, and in Bethhanan, (or and in Elonbethhanan);
10 Ben-hesed, in Aruboth; and Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher, was (also) his;
11 Ben-abinadab, whose was all Naphath, had Dor Taphath, the daughter of Solomon, to wife. (Ben-abinadab, whose had all of Naphath-dor,that is, the region of Dor, and he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, for a wife.)
12 Baana, the son of Ahilud, governed Taanach, and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is beside Zartanah, under Jezreel, from Bethshean unto Abelmeholah, even against Jokneam (or as far as Jokneam).
13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth of Gilead, had Havoth-jair, of the son of Manasseh, in Gilead; he was sovereign in all the country of Argob, which is in Bashan, to sixty great cities and walled, that had brazen locks. (Ben-geber, in Ramoth of Gilead, had Havoth-jair, that is, the tent villages of Jair, who was the son of Manasseh, in Gilead; he was the sovereign, or the ruler, in all the country of Argob, which is in Bashan, yea, to sixty great walled cities that had bronze locks.)
14 Ahinadab, the son of Iddo, was sovereign in Mahanaim;
15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali, but also he had Basmath, the daughter of Solomon, in wedlock;
16 Baanah, the son of Hushai, was in Asher, and in Aloth;
17 Jehoshaphat, the son of Paruah, was in Issachar;
18 Shimei, the son of Elah, was in Benjamin:
19 Geber, the son of Uri, was in the land of Gilead, and in the land of Sihon, king of Amorites, and (in the land) of Og, king of Bashan, and upon all things that were in that land.
20 (The people of) Judah and Israel were unnumberable, as the sand of the sea in multitude, eating, and drinking, and being glad.
21 Forsooth Solomon was in his lordship, and had all the realms, as from the flood of the land of Philistines, unto the last part of Egypt, of men offering gifts, that is, tributes, to him, and serving to him, in all the days of his life. (For Solomon was in his lordship, and had all the kingdoms, from the Euphrates River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the last part of Egypt; and the men of these places offered tribute, or taxes, to him, and served him, all the days of his life.)
22 Forsooth the meat of Solomon was by each day, thirty cors of clean flour of wheat, and sixty cors of meal, (And each day the food for Solomon and his household, was thirty cors of fine wheat flour, and sixty cors of meal,)
23 ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen of the pasture(s), and an hundred wethers, besides (the) hunting of harts, of goats, and of bugles (or and of buffalo, or wild oxen), and of birds made fat.
24 For he held all the country that was beyond the flood, as from Tiphsah unto Azzah (or from Tiphsah to Azzah), and all the kings of those countries; and he had peace by each part in compass.
25 And Judah and Israel dwelled without any dread (or And the people of Judah and Israel lived without any fear), each man under his vine, and under his fig tree, from Dan unto Beersheba, in all the days of Solomon.
26 And Solomon had forty thousand cratches of horses for chariots, and twelve thousand of road horses; (And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for the horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand road horses;)
27 and the foresaid prefects/the chief masters of the king nourished those horses. But also with great busyness they gave [the] necessaries to the board of king Solomon, in their time, (or But also with great diligence they gave the necessities for King Solomon’s table, each in his turn);
28 also they brought barley, and forage of horses and of work beasts, into the place where the king was, after it was ordained to them. (they also brought barley, and forage, for the horses and the work beasts, to the place where the king was, as it was ordained to them.)
29 Also God gave to Solomon wisdom, and prudence full much (or and a great deal of prudence), and largeness of heart, as the sand that is in the brink of the sea.
30 And the wisdom of Solomon passed the wisdom of all [the] east men, and Egyptians; (And Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the men of the East, and of all the Egyptians;)
31 and he was wiser than all men; he was wiser than Ethan (the) Ezrahite, and than Heman, and than Chalcol, and than Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was named among all folks by compass.
32 And Solomon spake three thousand parables, and his songs were a thousand and five;
33 and he disputed of trees, from a cedar which is in Lebanon, till to the hyssop that goeth out of the wall; he disputed of work beasts, and (of) birds, and of creeping beasts, and of fishes.
34 And they came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of [the] earth, that heard his wisdom (or who heard of his wisdom).