1 Kings 3
3
1 Kings 3
1¶ And Solomon became a relative of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, for he took Pharaoh’s daughter to wife and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
2Until then the people sacrificed in high places because there was still no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days.
3And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5¶ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what you wish that I shall give thee.
6And Solomon said, Thou hast shown unto thy slave David, my father, great mercy, according to the way he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great mercy that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy slave king instead of David my father; and I am but a tender young man; I do not know how to go out or come in.
8And thy slave is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9Give, therefore, thy slave a hearing heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this thy so great a people?
10And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life neither hast asked riches for thyself nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to hear judgment,
12behold, I have done according to thy words: behold, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
13And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and glory so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee in all thy days.
14And if thou wilt walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as thy father David walked, then I will lengthen thy days.
15And when Solomon awoke, he beheld it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings and made a banquet for all his slaves.
16¶ In that season two women, that were harlots, came unto the king and stood before him.
17And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.
19And this woman’s child died in the night because she lay on top of him.
20And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I had given birth to.
22And the other woman said, No, but my son is alive, and thy son is dead. And this one said, No, but thy son is dead, and my son is alive. Thus they spoke before the king.
23Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that is alive, and thy son is dead. And the other saith, No; but thy son is dead, and my son is alive.
24And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
25And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other.
26Then the woman, of whom the living child was, spoke unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it, for she is its mother.
28And all Israel heard of that judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to judge.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
1 Kings 3
3
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
1Solomon made an agreement with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to Jerusalem. At this time Solomon was still building his palace and the Temple of the Lord. He was also building a wall around Jerusalem. 2The Temple had not yet been finished. So people were still offering animal sacrifices at altars in many places of worship. 3Solomon showed that he loved the Lord. He did this by following the commands his father David had given him. But Solomon still used the many places of worship to offer sacrifices and to burn incense.
4King Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice. He went there because it was the most important place of worship. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. 5While he was at Gibeon, the Lord came to him in a dream during the night. God said, “Ask for anything you want. I will give it to you.”
6Solomon answered, “You were very kind to your servant, my father David. He obeyed you. He was honest and lived right. And you showed great kindness to him when you allowed his son to be king after him. 7Lord my God, you have allowed me to be king in my father’s place. But I am like a little child. I do not have the wisdom I need to do what I must do. 8I, your servant, am here among your chosen people. There are too many of them to count. 9So I ask that you give me wisdom. Then I can rule the people in the right way. Then I will know the difference between right and wrong. Without wisdom, it is impossible to rule this great people of yours.”
10The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked him for this. 11So God said to him, “You did not ask for a long life. And you did not ask for riches for yourself. You did not ask for the death of your enemies. Since you asked for wisdom to make the right decisions, 12I will give you what you asked. I will give you wisdom and understanding. Your wisdom will be greater than anyone has had in the past. And there will never be anyone in the future like you. 13Also, I will give you what you did not ask for. You will have riches and honor. During your life no other king will be as great as you. 14I ask you to follow me and obey my laws and commands. Do this as your father David did. If you do, I will also give you a long life.”
15Then Solomon woke up. He knew that God had talked to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord. There he gave burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. After that, he gave a feast for all of his leaders and officers.
Solomon Makes a Wise Decision
16One day two women who were prostitutes came to Solomon. They stood before him. 17One of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was there with me. 18Three days later this woman also gave birth to a baby. No one else was in the house with us. There were only the two of us. 19One night this woman rolled over on her baby, and it died. 20So during the night she took my son from my bed while I was asleep. She carried him to her bed. Then she put the dead baby in my bed. 21The next morning I got up to feed my baby. But I saw that he was dead! Then I looked at him more closely. I saw that he was not my son.”
22But the other woman said, “No! The living baby is my son. The dead baby is yours!”
But the first woman said, “No! The dead baby is yours, and the living one is mine!” So the two women argued before the king.
23Then King Solomon said, “Each of you says the living baby is your own. And each of you says the dead baby belongs to the other woman.”
24Then King Solomon sent his servants to get a sword. When they brought it to him, 25he said, “Cut the living baby into two pieces. Give each woman half of the baby.”
26The real mother of the living child was full of love for her son. She said to the king, “Please, my master, don’t kill him! Give the baby to her!”
But the other woman said, “Neither of us will have him. Cut him into two pieces!”
27Then King Solomon said, “Give the baby to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She is the real mother.”
28When the people of Israel heard about King Solomon’s decision, they respected him very much. They saw he had wisdom from God to make the right decisions.
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