1 Kings 3
New American Standard Bible
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.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 3:1 Lit made himself a son-in-law of Pharaoh
- 1 Kings 3:6 Or faithfulness
- 1 Kings 3:6 Lit kept
- 1 Kings 3:7 I.e., conduct daily business
- 1 Kings 3:9 Or a heart that listens
- 1 Kings 3:9 Lit heavy
- 1 Kings 3:10 Lit the thing was
- 1 Kings 3:11 Lit many days
- 1 Kings 3:17 Lit I and this woman
- 1 Kings 3:17 Lit with her in
- 1 Kings 3:22 Lit this one was saying
- 1 Kings 3:23 Lit this one
- 1 Kings 3:23 Lit this one
- 1 Kings 3:26 Lit her compassion grew hot
- 1 Kings 3:27 Lit her the living
- 1 Kings 3:28 Lit judged
- 1 Kings 3:28 Lit do
1 Kings 3
International Standard Version
Solomon Prays for Wisdom(A)
3 Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of[a] Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the Lord’s Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to[b] the Lord.
3 Solomon loved the Lord, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places. 4 The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. 5 The Lord appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, “Ask me for whatever you want and I’ll give it to you.”
6 So Solomon said:
“You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. 7 Now, Lord my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I’m still young. I don’t have any leadership skills.[c] 8 Your servant lives in the midst of your people that you have chosen, a great people that is too numerous to be counted. 9 So give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, so I can discern between good and evil. Otherwise, how will I be able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, 11 so God told him:
“Because you asked for this, and you didn’t ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn’t ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you’ve asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern, 12 look how I’m going to do precisely what you asked. I’m giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you. 13 I’m also giving you what you haven’t requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime. 14 If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I’ll also increase the length of your life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized that he had dreamed a dream. Then he went back to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and threw a party for all of his servants.
Solomon’s Wisdom is Tested
16 Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. 17 One woman said, “Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. 19 This woman’s son died overnight because she laid on top of him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!”
22 “Not so,” claimed the other woman. “The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours.”
But the first woman said, “Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son.” This is what they testified before the king.
23 The king said, “One of them claims, ‘This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one’ and the other claims ‘No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.’ 24 “Somebody get me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king. 25 “Divide the living child in two!” he ordered. “Give half to the one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. “Oh no, your majesty!” she said. “Give her the living child. Please don’t kill him.”
But the other woman said, “Cut him in half! That way, he’ll belong to neither one of us.”
27 The king announced his decision: “Give the living child to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at[d] the king, because they all saw that God’s wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 3:1 Lit. The Heb. lacks the family of
- 1 Kings 3:2 Lit. built for the name of
- 1 Kings 3:7 Lit. I’m only a youth and don’t know how to come and go
- 1 Kings 3:28 Lit. Israel feared
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