1 Kings 3:3–4:34

3 And Solomon floved the Lord, gwalking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4 And 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.

5 lIn Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon min a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 6 And 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. 7 And 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. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou shast chosen, a great people, tthat cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9 uGive 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? 10 And the speech zpleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And 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; 12 aBehold, 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. 13 And 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. 14 And 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. 15 And 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.

16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and kstood before him. 17 And 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. 18 And 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. 19 And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20 And 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. 21 And 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. 22 And 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. 23 Then 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. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then 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. 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28 And 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.

4 So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok ||the priest, 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of aShisha, ||scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the ||recorder. 4 And bBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and cAbiathar were the priests: 5 And Azariah the son of Nathan was over dthe officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was eprincipal officer, and fthe king’s friend: 6 And Ahishar was over the household: and gAdoniram the son of Abda was over the ||tribute. 7 And Solomon had twelve dofficers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision. 8 And these are their names: ||The son of Hur, in hmount Ephraim: 9 ||The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in iShaalbim, and jBeth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan: 10 ||The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained kSochoh, and all the land of lHepher: 11 ||The son of Abinadab, in all mthe region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 12 Baana the son of nAhilud; to him pertained oTaanach and oMegiddo, and all pBeth-shean, which is by qZartanah beneath rJezreel, from pBeth-shean to sAbel-meholah, even unto the place that is beyond tJokneam: 13 ||The son of Geber, in uRamoth-gilead; to him pertained vthe towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained wthe region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities wwith walls and brasen bars: 14 Ahinadab the son of xIddo had ||Mahanaim: 15 yAhimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 16 Baanah the son of zHushai was in Asher and in Aloth: 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar: 18 aShimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin: 19 Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in bthe country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land. 20 Judah and Israel were many, cas the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.

21 And dSolomon reigned over all kingdoms from ethe river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: fthey brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 And Solomon’s †provision for one day was thirty †measures of fine flour, and threescore †measures of meal, 23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside gharts, and groebucks, and hfallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from iTiphsah even to jAzzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and khe had peace on all sides round about him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt †safely, levery man under his vine and under his fig tree, mfrom Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 And Solomon had nforty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those oofficers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and ||dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

29 And pGod gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even qas the sand that is on the sea shore. 30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all rthe children of the east country, and all sthe wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was twiser than all men; uthan Ethan the vEzrahite, and wHeman, and xChalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32 And yhe spake three thousand proverbs: and his zsongs were a thousand and five. 33 And he spake of trees, from athe cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto bthe hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from call kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.