Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings) 3
3
1And Shelomoh joined in marriage with Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and took the daughter of Pharaoh, and brought her to the City of Dawiḏ until he had completed building his own house, and the House of יהוה, and the wall all around Yerushalayim.
2Only, the people slaughtered at the high places, for a house for the Name of יהוה had not been built until those days.
3And Shelomoh loved יהוה, walking in the laws of his father Dawiḏ, except that he slaughtered and burned incense at the high places.
4And the sovereign went to Gib‛on to slaughter there, for that was the great high place. Shelomoh offered a thousand ascending offerings on that slaughter-place.
5At Gib‛on יהוה appeared to Shelomoh in a dream by night, and Elohim said, “Ask what I should give you.”
6And Shelomoh said, “You have shown great loving-commitment to your servant Dawiḏ my father, as he walked before You in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You. And You have guarded for him this great loving-commitment, and did give him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7“And now, O יהוה my Elohim, You have set up Your servant to reign instead of my father Dawiḏ. But I am a little child, I do not know how to go out or to come in.
8“And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
9“Shall You then give to Your servant an understanding heart to rule Your people, to discern between good and evil? For who is able to rule this great people of Yours?”
10And the word was good in the eyes of יהוה, that Shelomoh had asked this.
11So Elohim said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have 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 discernment to understand right-ruling,
12see, I shall do according to your words. See, I shall give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you, and none like you shall arise after you.
13“And I shall also give you what you have not asked: both riches and esteem, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the sovereigns all your days.
14“And if you walk in My ways, to guard My laws and My commands, as your father Dawiḏ walked, then I shall prolong your days.”
15And Shelomoh awoke, and see, it was a dream! And he came into Yerushalayim and stood before the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and offered up ascending offerings and made peace offerings. And he made a feast for all his servants.
16Then two women, whores, came to the sovereign, and stood before him.
17And one woman said, “O my master, this woman and I dwell in the same house. And I gave birth while she was in the house.
18“And it came to be, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us in the house.
19“Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.
20“And she rose up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your female servant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21“And I rose up in the morning to nurse my son and saw he was dead. But I looked at him closely in the morning, and saw he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22And 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! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” And they spoke before the sovereign.
23And the sovereign said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one,’ while the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ”
24And the sovereign said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the sovereign.
25And the sovereign said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26And the woman whose son was living spoke to the sovereign, for she was overcome with compassion for her son. And she said, “O my master, 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.”
27And the sovereign answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him – she is his mother.”
28And all Yisra’ĕl heard of the right-ruling which the sovereign had rendered. And they feared the sovereign, for they saw that the wisdom of Elohim was in him to do right-ruling.
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Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings) 3: TS2009
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1 Kings 3
3
The Lord Makes Solomon Wise
(2 Chronicles 1.1-13)
1Solomon signed a treaty with the king of Egypt and married his daughter. She lived in the older part of Jerusalem#3.1 the older … Jerusalem: Hebrew “the city of David.” until the palace, the Lord's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem were completed.
2At that time, there was no temple for worshiping the Lord, and everyone offered sacrifices at the local shrines.#3.2 local shrines: The Hebrew text has “high places,” which were local places to worship God or foreign gods. 3Solomon loved the Lord and followed his father David's instructions, but Solomon also offered sacrifices and burned incense at the shrines.
4 #
Ws 9.1-18. The most important shrine was in Gibeon, and Solomon had offered more than 1,000 sacrifices on that altar.
5One night while Solomon was in Gibeon, the Lord God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”
6Solomon answered:
My father David, your servant, was honest and did what you commanded. You were always loyal to him, and you gave him a son who is now king. 7Lord God, I'm your servant, and you've made me king in my father's place. But I'm very young and know so little about being a leader. 8And now I must rule your chosen people, even though there are too many of them to count.
9Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don't, there is no way I could rule this great nation of yours.
10-11God said:
Solomon, I'm pleased that you asked for this. You could have asked to live a long time or to be rich. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom to make right decisions. 12So I'll make you wiser than anyone who has ever lived or ever will live.
13I'll also give you what you didn't ask for. You'll be rich and respected as long as you live, and you'll be greater than any other king. 14If you obey me and follow my commands, as your father David did, I'll let you live a long time.
15Solomon woke up and realized that God had spoken to him in the dream. He went back to Jerusalem and stood in front of the sacred chest, where he offered sacrifices to please the Lord#3.15 sacrifices to please the Lord: See Leviticus 1.1-17. and sacrifices to ask his blessing.#3.15 sacrifices to ask his blessing: See Leviticus 3.1-17. Then Solomon gave a feast for his officials.
Solomon Makes a Difficult Decision
16One day two women#3.16 women: Hebrew “prostitutes.” came to King Solomon, 17and one of them said:
Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. Not long ago my baby was born at home, 18and three days later her baby was born. Nobody else was there with us.
19One night while we were all asleep, she rolled over on her baby, and he died. 20Then while I was still asleep, she got up and took my son out of my bed. She put him in her bed, then she put her dead baby next to me.
21In the morning when I got up to feed my son, I saw that he was dead. But when I looked at him in the light, I knew he wasn't my son.
22“No!” the other woman shouted. “He was your son. My baby is alive!”
“The dead baby is yours,” the first woman yelled. “Mine is alive!”
They argued back and forth in front of Solomon, 23until finally he said, “Both of you say this live baby is yours. 24Someone bring me a sword.”
A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered, 25“Cut the baby in half! That way each of you can have part of him.”
26“Please don't kill my son,” the baby's mother screamed. “Your Majesty, I love him very much, but give him to her. Just don't kill him.”
The other woman shouted, “Go ahead and cut him in half. Then neither of us will have the baby.”
27Solomon said, “Don't kill the baby.” Then he pointed to the first woman, “She is his real mother. Give the baby to her.”
28Everyone in Israel was amazed when they heard how Solomon had made his decision. They realized that God had given him wisdom to judge fairly.
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© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.