1 Kings 3

3^*And ^aSolomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the ^bcity of David, until he had made an end of building his ^cown house, and ^dthe house of the Lord, and ^ethe wall of Jerusalem round about. ²Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days. ³And Solomon ^floved the Lord, ^gwalking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. ⁴And the king went to ^hGibeon to sacrifice there; ⁱfor that was the great ^jhigh place: a ^kthousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

^5lIn Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon ^min a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁶And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great ^||mercy, according as he ⁿwalked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou ^ohast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷And now, O Lord my God, ^pthou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but ^qa little child: I know not how ^rto go out or come in. ⁸And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou ^shast chosen, a great people, ^tthat cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ^9uGive therefore thy servant an ^†understanding heart ^xto judge thy people, that I may ^ydiscern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? ¹⁰And the speech ^zpleased 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 discern judgment; ^12aBehold, I have done according to thy words: ^blo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. ¹³And I have also ^cgiven thee that which thou hast not asked, both ^driches, and honour: so that there ^||shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. ¹⁴And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, ^eas thy father David did walk, then I will ^flengthen thy days. ¹⁵And Solomon ^gawoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before ^hthe ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and ⁱmade a feast to all his servants.

¹⁶Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and ^kstood 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 that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. ¹⁹And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. ²⁰And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine 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 did bear. ²²And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. ²³Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 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 spake the woman whose the living child was 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: she is the mother thereof. ²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the ^lwisdom of God was ^†in him, to do judgment.