1 Kings 3–4; 2 Chronicles 1

1Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.

2The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.

3And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

4Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

5One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

6Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

7And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

8Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.

9Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

10Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request.

11So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies—but you have asked for discernment to administer justice—

12behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.

13Moreover, I will give you what you did not request—both riches and honor—so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal.

14So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”

15Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

16At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

17One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.

18On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us.

19During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him.

20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom.

21The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”

22“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.

23Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

24The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword,

25and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

26Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

27Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”

28When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

1So King Solomon ruled over Israel,

2and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

3Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

4Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;

6Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

7Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel to provide food for the king and his household. Each one would arrange provisions for one month of the year,

8and these were their names: Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim;

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

10Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

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

12Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;

13Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

14Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim;

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

16Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;

17Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar;

18Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin;

19Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.

20The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

21And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

23ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

24For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates —over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

25Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

26Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.

27Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to his table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.

28Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

29And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.

30Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

31He was wiser than all men—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread throughout the surrounding nations.

32Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

33He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

34So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

1Now Solomon son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and highly exalted him.

2Then Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel—the heads of the families.

3And Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon because it was the location of God’s Tent of Meeting, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

4Now David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

5But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, was in Gibeon before the tabernacle of the LORD. So Solomon and the assembly inquired of Him there.

6Solomon offered sacrifices there before the LORD on the bronze altar at the Tent of Meeting, where he offered a thousand burnt offerings.

7That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

8Solomon replied to God: “You have shown much loving devotion to my father David, and You have made me king in his place.

9Now, O LORD God, let Your promise to my father David be fulfilled. For You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

10Now grant me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may lead this people. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

11God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart instead of requesting riches or wealth or honor for yourself or death for your enemies—and since you have not even requested long life but have asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over whom I have made you king—

12therefore wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will also give you riches and wealth and honor unlike anything given to the kings before you or after you.”

13So Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place in Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, and he reigned over Israel.

14Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

15The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

16Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

17A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.