1 Kings 3

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her into the City of David until he had finished building his own palace, the house of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

1And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

NoteRoyal marriages were treaties: a king sealed an alliance by taking the other ruler's daughter as a wife. The "City of David" is the older fortified ridge of Jerusalem that David had captured, south of where the temple was later built. The "house of the LORD" is the temple, not yet begun at this point in the story.

2The people, though, were still offering sacrifices at the high places, because up to that time no house had been built for the name of the LORD.

2Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

NoteA "high place" was a local open-air worship site, usually on a hill or raised platform, with an altar and often a standing stone or sacred pole. They were the normal places of sacrifice throughout Canaan and Israel before worship was centralized at one temple.

3Solomon loved the LORD and lived by the rules his father David had followed. But he did offer sacrifices and burn incense at the high places.

3And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

Note"Statutes" are fixed laws or decrees. Burning incense meant burning aromatic gum resin, which produced fragrant smoke, as an offering alongside animal sacrifice.

4The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices there, because that was the most important high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

NoteGibeon was a town about six miles northwest of Jerusalem; other biblical accounts place the old tent sanctuary and its bronze altar there at this time. In a "burnt offering" the whole animal was burned on the altar and none of it eaten, the most costly kind of sacrifice, which makes a thousand of them a display of royal scale.

5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream one night. God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

5In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

6Solomon said, "You showed great and faithful love to your servant David, my father, because he lived before you honestly, did what was right, and was sincere with you. You have kept that great kindness going by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as is true today.

6And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked 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 hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

Note"Faithful love" translates the Hebrew word hesed: loyal, obligated kindness of the sort owed between parties bound by an agreement, not simply warm feeling. "Lived before you" is an idiom for conducting one's whole life in someone's presence and service.

7"Now, LORD my God, you have made me, your servant, king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

7And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

Note"I am only a little child" is a figure of speech for being untried and inexperienced; Solomon was a grown man with a wife and a son by this point. "To go out or come in" is a stock Hebrew phrase for carrying out the daily business of leadership, and especially for leading an army out to war and home again.

8"And I, your servant, am here among the people you chose, a great people, too many to be counted or numbered.

8And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

9"So give me, your servant, an understanding heart, so I can judge your people and tell the difference between good and bad. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?"

9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

NoteIn Hebrew the "heart" is the seat of thought and decision, closer to what English calls the mind. The phrase translated "understanding heart" is literally a "hearing heart", one that listens well. "Judge" here covers the whole work of governing, not just deciding court cases.

10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this.

10And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

11God said to him, "Because you asked for this, and did not ask for a long life for yourself, or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but asked for understanding so you could judge fairly,

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;

12"I have done what you asked. I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before you, and no one like you will rise up after you.

12Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, 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"I have also given you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that as long as you live no king will be your equal.

13And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

14"And if you live my way, keeping my rules and my commands, as your father David did, then I will give you a long life."

14And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

15Then Solomon woke up, and he saw it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood in front of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his officials.

15And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

NoteThe ark of the covenant was a gold-covered wooden chest holding the stone tablets of the law; at this point it stood in a tent in Jerusalem rather than in a temple. A "peace offering" (or fellowship offering) was a sacrifice in which only part of the animal was burned and the rest was eaten by the worshipers as a shared meal, which is why a feast follows.

16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

16Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.

NoteThe king was the court of final appeal, and anyone could in principle bring a case to him. These two women had no husbands or male relatives to speak for them and no witnesses, which is exactly why the case was impossible to settle by ordinary evidence and ended up before the king.

17One woman said, "Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was there in the house with me.

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.

18"On the third day after I gave birth, this woman had a baby too. We were alone. No one else was in the house with us, just the two of us.

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.

19"During the night this woman's child died, because she lay on him.

19And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.

20"So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I, your servant, was asleep. She laid him against her chest, and laid her dead child against my chest.

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.

21"When I got up in the morning to nurse my child, I found he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw he was not the son I had given birth to."

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.

22The other woman said, "No. The living one is my son, and the dead one is your son." But the first said, "No. The dead one is your son, and the living one is my son." That is how they argued in front of the king.

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 the king said, "One of you says, 'This is my son, the one who is alive, and your son is the dead one.' And the other says, 'No. Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

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.

24The king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king.

24And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

25Then the king said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other."

25And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

26Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king, because her heart ached with love for her son. She said, "Please, my lord, give her the living child. Do not kill him." But the other woman said, "He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two."

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 gave his answer: "Give the living child to the first woman. Do not kill him. She is his mother."

27Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

28All Israel heard about the judgment the king had made, and they were filled with awe of the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give fair rulings.

28And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.