1 Kings 3–11

Solomon Requests Wisdom

3Now ^aSolomon made ¹a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her ^bto the City of David until he had finished building his ^cown house, and ^dthe house of the Lord, and ^ethe wall all around Jerusalem. ^2fMeanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. ³And Solomon ^gloved the Lord, ^hwalking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

⁴Now ⁱthe king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, ^jfor that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^5kAt Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon ^lin a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

^6mAnd Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he ⁿwalked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You ^ohave 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 ^plittle child; I do not know how ^qto go out or come in. ⁸And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You ^rhave chosen, a great people, ^stoo numerous to be numbered or counted. ^9tTherefore give to Your servant an ²understanding heart ^uto judge Your people, that I may ^vdiscern 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 ^wnot 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, ^12xbehold, I have done according to your words; ^ysee, 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 ^zgiven you what you have not asked: both ^ariches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. ¹⁴So ^bif you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, ^cas your father David walked, then I will ^dlengthen ³your days.”

¹⁵Then Solomon ^eawoke; 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 ^fmade a feast for all his servants.

Solomon’s Wise Judgment

¹⁶Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and ^gstood 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; ⁴no 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 ^hshe 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 ⁱwisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Solomon’s Administration

4So King Solomon was king over all Israel. ²And these were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, ¹scribes; ^aJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ^4bBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, over the army; Zadok and ^cAbiathar, the priests; ⁵Azariah the son of Nathan, over ^dthe officers; Zabud the son of Nathan, ^ea priest and ^fthe king’s friend; ⁶Ahishar, over the household; and ^gAdoniram the son of Abda, over the labor force.

⁷And Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month of the year. ⁸These are their names: ²Ben-Hur, in the mountains of Ephraim; ⁹³Ben-Deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; ¹⁰⁴Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth; to him belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher; ¹¹⁵Ben-Abinadab, in all the regions of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife; ¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shean, which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as the other side of Jokneam; ¹³⁶Ben-Geber, in Ramoth Gilead; to him belonged ^hthe towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, in Gilead; to him also belonged ⁱthe region of Argob in Bashan—sixty large cities with walls and bronze gate-bars; ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ^15jAhimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife; ¹⁶Baanah the son of ^kHushai, in Asher and Aloth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ^18lShimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, in ^mthe country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only governor who was in the land.

Prosperity and Wisdom of Solomon’s Reign

²⁰Judah and Israel were as numerous ⁿas the sand by the sea in multitude, ^oeating and drinking and rejoicing. ²¹So ^pSolomon reigned over all kingdoms from ^qthe ⁷River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^rThey brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

^22sNow Solomon’s ⁸provision for one day was thirty ⁹kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, ²³ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

²⁴For he had dominion over all the region on this side of ¹the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over ^tall the kings on this side of the River; and ^uhe had peace on every side all around him. ²⁵And Judah and Israel ^vdwelt ²safely, ^weach man under his vine and his fig tree, ^xfrom Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

^26ySolomon had ³forty thousand stalls of ^zhorses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷And ^athese governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply. ²⁸They also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the horses and steeds, each man according to his charge.

²⁹And ^bGod gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. ³⁰Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men ^cof the East and all ^dthe wisdom of Egypt. ³¹For he was ^ewiser than all men—^fthan Ethan the Ezrahite, ^gand Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. ^32hHe spoke three thousand proverbs, and his ⁱsongs were one thousand and five. ³³Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. ³⁴And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, ^jcame to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple

5Now ^aHiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, ^bfor Hiram had always loved David. ²Then ^cSolomon sent to Hiram, saying:

^3dYou know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God ^ebecause of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the Lord put ¹his foes under the soles of his feet.

⁴But now the Lord my God has given me ^frest ²on every side; there is neither adversary nor ³evil occurrence.

^5gAnd behold, ⁴I propose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, ^has the Lord spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.”

⁶Now therefore, command that they cut down ⁱcedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians.

⁷So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said,

Blessed be the Lord this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!

⁸Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying:

I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs.

⁹My servants shall bring them down ^jfrom Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire ^kby giving food for my household.

¹⁰Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to…