Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

3 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.^{(A) 2} The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.^(B)

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places.^{(C) 4} The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.^{(D) 5} At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.”^{(E) 6} And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.^{(F) 7} And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.^{(G) 8} And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.^{(H) 9} Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?”^(I)

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,^{(J) 12} I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.^{(K) 13} I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you.^{(L) 14} If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”^(M)

¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem, where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being and provided a feast for all his servants.^(N)

Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment

¹⁶ Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.^{(O) 18} Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house; only the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹ Then this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. ²⁰ She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast and laid her dead son at my breast.^{(P) 21} When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead, but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” ²² But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.

²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’ ” ²⁴ So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ But the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because compassion for her son burned within her, “Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.”^{(Q) 27} Then the king responded, “Give her the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.^(R)

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.^{(A) 21} In the law it is written,

says the Lord.^{(B) 22} Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³ If, therefore, the entire church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?^{(C) 24} But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. ²⁵ After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship, declaring, “God is really among you.”

Orderly Worship

²⁶ What should be done then, my brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.^{(D) 27} If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. ³⁰ If someone sitting receives a revelation, let the first person be silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged ³² (and the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, ³³ for God is a God not of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints.

³⁴ Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says.^{(E) 35} If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.^[a] For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.^{[b] 36} Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

³⁷ Anyone who claims to be a prophet or spiritual must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command^[c] of the Lord.^{(F) 38} Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. ³⁹ So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues,^{(G) 40} but all things should be done decently and in order.

^21 [a]Solomon was sovereign over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.^[b](A)]]

²² Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of choice flour and sixty cors of meal, ²³ ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl. ²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates,^[c] and he had peace on all sides.^{(B) 25} During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all of them under their vines and fig trees.^{(C) 26} Solomon also had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.^{(D) 27} Those officials supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month; they let nothing be lacking.^{(E) 28} They also brought to the required place barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds, each according to his charge.

Fame of Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹ God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore,^{(F) 30} so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.^{(G) 31} He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.^{(H) 32} He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.^{(I) 33} He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. ³⁴ People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.^(J)

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

16 Then Jesus^[a] said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.^{(A) 2} So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ ³ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ ⁷ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ ⁸ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.^{(B) 9} And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth^[b] so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.^[c](C)

¹⁰ “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.^{(D) 11} If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,^[d] who will entrust to you the true riches?^{(E) 12} And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³ No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”^[e](F)

The Law and the Kingdom of God

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.^{(G) 15} So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts, for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God.^(H)

¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is being proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force.^{[f](I) 17} But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.^(J)

¹⁸ “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.^(K)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰ And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,^{(L) 21} who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²² The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.^[g] The rich man also died and was buried.^{(M) 23} In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.^{[h](N) 24} He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’^{(O) 25} But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.^{(P) 26} Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’^{(Q) 30} He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’^{(R) 31} He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”