1 Kings 3:3-4:34

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes and practices of David his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon [near Jerusalem, where stood the tabernacle and the bronze altar] to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. One thousand burnt offerings Solomon offered on that altar.

⁵ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, ^[a]Ask what I shall give you.

⁶ Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy and loving-kindness, according as he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness and steadfast love, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

⁷ Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father, and I am ^[b]but a lad [in wisdom and experience]; I know not how to go out (begin) or come in (finish).

⁸ Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude.

⁹ So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people?^(A)

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 long life or for riches, nor for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to recognize what is just and right,

¹² Behold, I have done as you asked. I have given you a wise, discerning mind, so that no one before you was your equal, nor shall any arise after you equal to you.

¹³ I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings equal to you all your days.

¹⁴ And if you will go My way, keep My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.

¹⁵ Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. He came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶ Then two women who had become mothers out of wedlock came and stood before the king.

¹⁷ And 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 And the third day after I was delivered, this woman also was delivered. And we were together; no stranger was with us, just we two in the house.

¹⁹ And this woman’s child died in the night because she lay on him.

²⁰ And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while your handmaid slept and laid him in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹ And when I rose to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I had considered him in the morning, behold, it was not the son I had borne.

²² But the other woman said, No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son! And this one said, No! But the dead son is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ The king said, One says, This is my son that is alive and yours is the dead one. The other woman says, No! But your son is the dead one and mine is the living one.

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

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

²⁶ Then the mother of the living child said to the king, for she yearned over her son, O my lord, give her the living baby, and by no means slay him. But the other said, Let him not be mine or yours, but divide him.

²⁷ Then the king said, Give her [who pleads for his life] the living baby, and by no means slay him. She is the child’s mother.

²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had made, and they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

4 King Solomon was king over all Israel.

² These were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the [high] priest;

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

⁴ Benaiah son of Jehoiada commanded the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵ Azariah son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud son of Nathan was priest and the king’s friend and private advisor;

⁶ Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

⁷ Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who secured provisions for the king and his household; each man had to provide for a month in a year.

⁸ These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

⁹ Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

¹⁰ Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher);

¹¹ Ben-abinadab, in Naphoth-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as wife);

¹² Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as beyond Jokmeam;

¹³ Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him belonged the villages of Jair son of Manasseh which are in Gilead, also the region of Argob which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife);

¹⁶ Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸ Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri, in Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; only one officer was over all the country [at one time, each serving for one month].

²⁰ Judah and Israel were many, like the sand which is by the sea in multitude; they ate, drank, and rejoiced.

²¹ Solomon reigned ^[c]over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, sixty measures of meal,

²³ Ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl of choice kinds.

²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region west of the [Euphrates] River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River, and he had peace on all sides around him.

²⁵ Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all of Solomon’s days.

²⁶ Solomon also had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.

²⁷ And those officers provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to his table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it was needed, each according to his assignment.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon exceptionally much wisdom and understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand of the seashore.

³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹ For he was wiser ^[d]than all other men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. His fame was in all the nations round about.

³² He also originated 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.

³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

³⁴ Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.