Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

3 Now ^(A)Solomon ^[a]formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter ^(B)and brought her to the city of David ^(C)until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord, and ^(D)the wall around Jerusalem. ^2 (E)The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

³ Now ^(F)Solomon loved the Lord, ^(G)walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. ⁴ And ^(H)the king went to ^(I)Gibeon to sacrifice there, ^(J)because that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^5 (K)In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon ^(L)in a dream at night; and God said, “^(M)Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

Solomon’s Prayer

⁶ Then Solomon said, “^(N)You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, ^(O)according as he walked before You in ^[b]truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and ^(P)You have ^[c]reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷ And now, Lord my God, ^(Q)You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet ^(R)I am like a little boy; ^(S)I do not know how to ^[d]go out or come in. ⁸ And ^(T)Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, ^(U)a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. ⁹ So ^(V)give Your servant ^[e]an understanding heart to judge Your people, ^(W)to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this ^[f]great people of Yours?”

God’s Answer

¹⁰ Now ^[g]it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have ^(X)not asked for yourself ^[h]a long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, ¹² behold, ^(Y)I have done according to your words. Behold, ^(Z)I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. ^13 (AA)I have also given you what you have not asked, both ^(AB)riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. ¹⁴ And ^(AC)if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will ^(AD)prolong your days.”

¹⁵ Then ^(AE)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 burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and ^(AF)held a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Wisely Judges

¹⁶ Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Pardon me, my lord: ^[i]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child ^[j]while she was in the house. ¹⁸ And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. ¹⁹ Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. ²¹ When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne!” ²² Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But ^[k]the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” So they spoke before the king.

²³ Then the king said, “^[l]The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and ^[m]the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴ And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for ^[n](AG)she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, “Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other woman was saying, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!” ²⁷ Then the king replied, “Give ^[o]the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ When all Israel heard about the judgment which the king had ^[p]handed down, they feared the king, because ^(AH)they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to ^[q]administer justice.

Solomon Worships at Gibeon

1 Now ^(A)Solomon the son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and ^(B)exalted him greatly.

² And Solomon spoke to all Israel, ^(C)to the commanders of thousands, of hundreds, and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households. ³ Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to ^(D)the high place which was at Gibeon, ^(E)because God’s tent of meeting was there which Moses, the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. ⁴ However, David had brought up ^(F)the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim ^[a]to ^(G)the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ⁵ Now ^(H)the bronze altar which Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out. ⁶ And Solomon went up there before the Lord to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and ^(I)offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

^7 (J)In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

⁸ And Solomon said to God, “You have dealt with my father David with great faithfulness, and ^(K)have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, Lord God, ^(L)Your ^[b]promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over ^(M)a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ^10 (N)Now give me wisdom and knowledge, ^(O)so that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” ^11 (P)Then God said to Solomon, “Because this was ^[c]in your heart, and you did not ask for riches, wealth, or honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor did you even ask for long life, but you asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge so that you may rule My people over whom I have made you king, ¹² wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. ^(Q)I will also give you riches, wealth, and honor, ^[d]such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed, nor will those who will ^[e]come after you.” ^13 (R)So Solomon went ^[f]from the high place which was at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel.

Solomon’s Wealth

^14 (S)Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. ^(T)He had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in ^(U)the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^15 (V)The king made ^(W)silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the ^[g]lowland. ¹⁶ Solomon’s ^(X)horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s traders acquired them from Kue for a price. ¹⁷ They ^[h]imported chariots from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver apiece, horses for 150 apiece, and ^[i]by the same means they ^[j]exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Deliverance from Bondage

8 Therefore there is now no ^(A)condemnation at all for those who are ^(B)in ^(C)Christ Jesus. ² For ^(D)the law of the Spirit of life ^[a]in ^(E)Christ Jesus ^(F)has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For ^(G)what the Law could not do, ^[b](H)weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in ^(I)the likeness of ^[c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the ^(J)requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who ^(K)do not walk ^[d]according to the flesh but ^[e]according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ^6 (N)For the mind ^[f]set on the flesh is ^(O)death, but the mind ^[g]set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind ^[h]set on the flesh is ^(P)hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are ^(Q)in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ However, you are not ^(R)in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^(S)dwells in you. But ^(T)if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ^10 (U)If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ^[i]alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who ^(V)raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^(W)He who raised ^(X)Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^[j]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for ^(Y)if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are ^(Z)putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(AA)being led by the Spirit of God, these are ^(AB)sons and daughters of God. ¹⁵ For you ^(AC)have not received a spirit of slavery ^[k]leading to fear again, but you ^(AD)have received ^[l]a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “^(AE)Abba! ^[m]Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself ^(AF)testifies with our spirit that we are ^(AG)children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, ^(AH)heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(AI)if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(AJ)are not worthy to be compared with the ^(AK)glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the ^(AL)eagerly awaiting creation waits for ^(AM)the revealing of the ^(AN)sons and daughters of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(AO)was subjected to ^(AP)futility, not willingly, but ^(AQ)because of Him who subjected it, ^[n]in hope ²¹ that ^(AR)the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(AS)groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ^23 (AT)And not only that, but also we ourselves, having ^(AU)the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^(AV)groan within ourselves, ^(AW)waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, ^(AX)the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For ^(AY)in hope we have been saved, but ^(AZ)hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But ^(BA)if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

²⁶ Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for ^(BB)we do not know what to pray for as we should, but ^(BC)the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with ^[o]groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and ^(BD)He who searches the hearts knows what ^(BE)the mind of the Spirit is, because He ^(BF)intercedes for the ^[p]saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that ^[q]God ^[r]causes ^(BG)all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are ^(BH)called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He ^(BI)foreknew, He also ^(BJ)predestined to become ^(BK)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^(BL)firstborn among many brothers and sisters; ³⁰ and these whom He ^(BM)predestined, He also ^(BN)called; and these whom He called, He also ^(BO)justified; and these whom He justified, He also ^(BP)glorified.

^31 (BQ)What then shall we say to these things? ^(BR)If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who ^(BS)did not spare His own Son, but ^(BT)delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring charges against ^(BU)God’s elect? ^(BV)God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who ^(BW)condemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^(BX)died, but rather, was ^[s](BY)raised, who is ^(BZ)at the right hand of God, who also ^(CA)intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from ^(CB)the love of ^[t]Christ? Will ^(CC)tribulation, or trouble, or ^(CD)persecution, or ^(CE)famine, or ^(CF)nakedness, or ^(CG)danger, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written:

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly ^(CI)conquer through ^(CJ)Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither ^(CK)death, nor life, nor ^(CL)angels, nor principalities, nor ^(CM)things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from ^(CN)the love of God that is ^(CO)in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

For the music director. A ^[a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.