Solomon’s Wisdom

¹⁶ Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.^{(A) 17} One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. ¹⁸ On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else^[a] was with us in the house; just the two of us were there. ¹⁹ During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. ²⁰ She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him in her arms, and she put her dead son in my arms. ²¹ When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”

²² “No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.”

The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.

²³ The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’” ²⁴ The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. ²⁵ And the king said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion^[b](B) for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!”

But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”

²⁷ The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom^(C) was in him to carry out justice.

Solomon’s Officials

4 King Solomon reigned over all Israel,^{(A) 2} and these were his officials:^(B)

⁷ Solomon had twelve deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year.^{(C) 8} These were their names:

There was one deputy in the land of Judah.^[a]

Solomon’s Provisions

²⁰ Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea;^(D) they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing. ²¹ Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt.^(E) They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.^(F)

²² Solomon’s provisions for one day were 180 bushels^[b] of fine flour and 360 bushels^[c] of meal, ²³ ten fattened cattle, twenty range cattle, and a hundred sheep and goats, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry,^{[d](G) 24} for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders. ²⁵ Throughout Solomon’s reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba,^(H) each person under his own vine and his own fig tree.^{(I) 26} Solomon had forty thousand^[e] stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.^{(J) 27} Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon’s table. They neglected nothing. ²⁸ Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses^(K) to the required place according to his assignment.^[f]

Solomon’s Wisdom and Literary Gifts

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding^(L) as vast as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East,^(M) greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.^{(N) 31} He was wiser than anyone^(O)—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite,^(P) and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol.^(Q) His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations.^(R)

³² Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs,^(S) and his songs numbered 1,005.^{(T) 33} He spoke about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴ Emissaries of all peoples, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.^(U)

Hiram’s Building Materials

5 King Hiram of Tyre^(A) sent his emissaries to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place,^(B) for Hiram had always been friends with David.^(C)

² Solomon sent this message to Hiram: ³ “You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of the Lord his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.^{(D) 4} The Lord my God has now given me rest on every side; there is no enemy or misfortune.^{(E) 5} So I plan to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God,^(F) according to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for my name.’^(G)

⁶ “Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants’ wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”^(H)

⁷ When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord today!^(I) He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!” ⁸ Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”^(J)

¹⁰ So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, ¹¹ and Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred twenty thousand bushels^[a] of wheat as food for his household and one hundred twenty thousand gallons^[b] of oil from crushed olives.^(K) Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him.^(L) There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.^(M)

Solomon’s Workforce

¹³ Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel;^(N) the labor force numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent ten thousand to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains,^{(O) 16} not including his thirty-three hundred^[c] deputies^(P) in charge of the work. They supervised the people doing the work. ¹⁷ The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.^{(Q) 18} So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders,^(R) along with the Gebalites,^(S) quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.