I Kings 3
3
Solomon Requests Wisdom
1Now #1 Kin. 7:8; 9:24Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her #2 Sam. 5:7to the City of David until he had finished building his #1 Kin. 7:1own house, and #1 Kin. 6the house of the Lord, and #1 Kin. 9:15, 19the wall all around Jerusalem. 2#(Deut. 12:2–5, 13, 14); 1 Kin. 11:7; 22:43Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. 3And Solomon #(Rom. 8:28)loved the Lord, #(1 Kin. 3:6, 14)walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
4Now #1 Kin. 9:2; 2 Chr. 1:3the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, #1 Chr. 16:39; 21:29for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5#1 Kin. 9:2; 11:9; 2 Chr. 1:7At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon #Num. 12:6; Matt. 1:20; 2:13in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
6#2 Chr. 1:8And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he #1 Kin. 2:4; 9:4; 2 Kin. 20:3walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You #2 Sam. 7:8–17; 1 Kin. 1:48have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a #1 Chr. 22:5; Jer. 1:6, 7little child; I do not know how #Num. 27:17; 2 Sam. 5:2to go out or come in. 8And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You #(Ex. 19:6; Deut. 7:6)have chosen, a great people, too #Gen. 13:6; 15:5; 22:17numerous to be numbered or counted. 9#2 Chr. 1:10; (James 1:5)Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart #Ps. 72:1, 2to judge Your people, that I may #2 Sam. 14:17; Is. 7:15; (Heb. 5:14)discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have #(James 4:3)not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12#(1 John 5:14, 15)behold, I have done according to your words; #1 Kin. 4:29–31; 5:12; 10:24; Eccl. 1:16see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13And I have also #(Matt. 6:33; Eph. 3:20)given you what you have not asked: both #1 Kin. 4:21, 24; 10:23; 1 Chr. 29:12riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14So #(1 Kin. 6:12)if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, #1 Kin. 15:5as your father David walked, then I will #Ps. 91:16; Prov. 3:2lengthen your days.”
15Then Solomon #Gen. 41:7awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and #Gen. 40:20; 1 Kin. 8:65; Esth. 1:3; Dan. 5:1; Mark 6:21made a feast for all his servants.
Solomon’s Wise Judgment
16Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and #Num. 27:2stood before him. 17And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for #Gen. 43:30; Is. 49:15; Jer. 31:20; Hos. 11:8she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the #1 Kin. 3:9, 11, 12; 2 Chr. 1:12; Dan. 1:17; (Col. 2:2, 3)wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
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I Kings 3: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 3
3
1-3Solomon arranged a marriage contract with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he had completed building his royal palace and God’s Temple and the wall around Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the people were worshiping at local shrines because at that time no temple had yet been built to the Name of God. Solomon loved God and continued to live in the God-honoring ways of David his father, except that he also worshiped at the local shrines, offering sacrifices and burning incense.
4-5The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”
6Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.
7-8“And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.
9“Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”
10-14God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.”
15Solomon woke up—what a dream! He returned to Jerusalem, took his place before the Chest of the Covenant of God, and worshiped by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings. Then he laid out a banquet for everyone in his service.
16-21The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. The one woman said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone—there wasn’t anyone else in the house except for the two of us. The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son—I was sound asleep, mind you!—and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn’t my baby.”
22“Not so!” said the other woman. “The living one’s mine; the dead one’s yours.”
The first woman countered, “No! Your son’s the dead one; mine’s the living one.”
They went back and forth this way in front of the king.
23The king said, “What are we to do? This woman says, ‘The living son is mine and the dead one is yours,’ and this woman says, ‘No, the dead one’s yours and the living one’s mine.’”
24After a moment the king said, “Bring me a sword.” They brought the sword to the king.
25Then he said, “Cut the living baby in two—give half to one and half to the other.”
26The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, “Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don’t kill him!”
But the other one said, “If I can’t have him, you can’t have him—cut away!”
27The king gave his decision: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother.”
28The word got around—everyone in Israel heard of the king’s judgment. They were all in awe of the king, realizing that it was God’s wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.