1 Kings 3–11

The Lord Appears to Solomon

3Solomon made an alliance ⁿwith Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. ^oSolomon brought her to live in the city of David ^puntil he finished building his palace, ^qthe Lord’s temple, ^rand the wall surrounding Jerusalem. ^s2However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, ^tbecause until that time a temple for the Lord’s name ^uhad not been built. ³Solomon loved the Lord ^vby walking in the statutes of his father David, ^wbut he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴The king went to Gibeon ^xto sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. ^y5At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon ^zin a dream at night. ^aGod said, “Ask. ^bWhat should I give you?”

⁶And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and ^cintegrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, ^das it is today. ^e

⁷“Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David’s place. ^fYet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. ^gh8Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, ⁱa ^jpeople too numerous to be numbered or counted. ^k9So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge ^lYour people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” ^m

¹⁰Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. ¹¹So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life ⁿor riches for yourself, ^oor the death ^pof your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to understand justice, ^q12I will therefore do what you have asked. ^rI will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. ^s13In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, ^tso that no man in any kingdom will be your equal during your entire life. ^u14If you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.” ^v

¹⁵Then Solomon woke up ^wand realized it had been a dream. ^xHe went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, ^yand offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ^zThen he held a feast ^afor all his servants.

Solomon’s Wisdom

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ^b17One woman said, “Please my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. ¹⁸On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else ^cwas with us in the house; just the two of us were there. ¹⁹During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. ²⁰She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms. ²¹When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”

²²“No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.”

The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.

²³The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ” ²⁴The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. ²⁵Solomon said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion ^defor her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!”

But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”

²⁷The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom ^fwas in him to carry out justice.

Solomon’s Officials

4King Solomon ruled over Israel, ^g2and these were his officials: ^h

Azariah son of Zadok, priest;

³Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries;

Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, court historian;

⁴Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army;

Zadok and Abiathar, priests;

⁵Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies;

Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king;

⁶Ahishar, in charge of the palace;

and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor.

⁷Solomon had 12 deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year. ⁱ⁸These were their names:

Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

⁹Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

¹⁰Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher);

¹¹Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife);

¹²Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

¹³Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, 60 great cities with walls and bronze bars);

¹⁴Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon—Basemath);

¹⁶Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

¹⁷Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan.

There was one deputy in the land of Judah. ^j

Solomon’s Provisions

²⁰Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; ^kthey were eating, drinking, and rejoicing. ^21lSolomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. ^mThey offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. ⁿ

²²Solomon’s provisions for one day were 150 bushels ^oof fine flour and 300 bushels ^pof meal, ²³10 fattened oxen, 20 range oxen, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry, ^qr24for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders. ²⁵Throughout Solomon’s reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, ^seach man under his own vine and his own fig tree. ^t26Solomon had 40,000 ^ustalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. ^v27Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon’s table. They neglected nothing. ²⁸Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses ^wto the required place according to his assignment. ^x

Solomon’s Wisdom and Literary Gifts

²⁹God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding ^yas vast as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, ^zgreater than all the wisdom of Egypt. ^a31He was wiser than anyone ^b—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, ^cand Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. ^dHis reputation extended to all the surrounding nations. ^e

³²Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, ^fand his songs numbered 1,005. ^g33He described trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴People came from everywhere, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. ^h

Hiram’s Building Materials

5ⁱHiram king of Tyre ^jsent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, ^kfor Hiram had always been friends with David. ^l

²Solomon sent this message to Hiram: ³“You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahweh his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. ^m4The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis. ⁿ⁵So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahweh my God, ^oaccording to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.’ ^p

⁶“Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants’ wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” ^q

⁷When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he greatly rejoiced and said, “May the Lord be praised today! ^rHe has given David a wise son to be over this great people!” ⁸Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. ⁹My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.” ^s

¹⁰So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, ¹¹and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels ^tof wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons ^uof oil from crushed olives. ^vSolomon did this for Hiram year after year.

¹²The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. ^wThere was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. ^x

Solomon’s Work Force

¹³Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; ^ythe labor force numbered 30,000 men. ¹⁴He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month…