1 Kings 3

Solomon Asks for Wisdom

3:4–15pp—2Ch 1:2–13

3Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married^m his daughter.ⁿ He brought her to the City of David^o until he finished building his palace^p and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. ²The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places,^q because a temple had not yet been built for the Name^r of the Lord. ³Solomon showed his love^s for the Lord by walking^t according to the instructions^u given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.^v

⁴The king went to Gibeon^w to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵At Gibeon the Lord appeared^x to Solomon during the night in a dream,^y and God said, “Ask^z for whatever you want me to give you.”

⁶Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful^a to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son^b to sit on his throne this very day.

⁷“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child^c and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸Your servant is here among the people you have chosen,^d a great people, too numerous to count or number.^{e 9}So give your servant a discerning^f heart to govern your people and to distinguish^g between right and wrong. For who is able^h to govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹So God said to him, “Since you have askedⁱ for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment^j in administering justice, ¹²I will do what you have asked.^k I will give you a wise^l and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³Moreover, I will give you what you have not^m asked for—both wealth and honorⁿ—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal^o among kings. ¹⁴And if you walk^p in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”^{q 15}Then Solomon awoke^r—and he realized it had been a dream.^s

He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings^t and fellowship offerings.^u Then he gave a feast^v for all his court.

A Wise Ruling

¹⁶Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. ¹⁸The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹“During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. ²⁰So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. ²¹The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

²²The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

²³The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”

²⁴Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. ²⁵He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved^w out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

²⁷Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom^x from God to administer justice.