Chronological
3 ¶ And Solomon became a relative of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, for he took Pharaoh’s daughter to wife 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 of Jerusalem round about.
2 Until then the people sacrificed in high places because there was still no house built unto the name of the LORD until those days.
3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David, his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5 ¶ In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what you wish that I shall give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shown unto thy slave David, my father, great mercy, according to the way he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great mercy that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy slave king instead of David my father; and I am but a tender young man; I do not know how to go out or come in.
8 And thy slave is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Give, therefore, thy slave a hearing heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this thy so great a people?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life neither hast asked riches for thyself nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to hear judgment,
12 behold, I have done according to thy words: behold, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and glory so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee in all thy days.
14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as thy father David walked, then I will lengthen thy days.
15 And when Solomon awoke, he beheld it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings and made a banquet for all his slaves.
16 ¶ In that season two women, that were harlots, came unto the king and stood before him.
17 And the 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 it came to pass the third day after I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.
19 And this woman’s child died in the night because she lay on top of him.
20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I had given birth to.
22 And the other woman said, No, but my son is alive, and thy son is dead. And this one said, No, but thy son is dead, and my son is alive. Thus they spoke before the king.
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that is alive, and thy son is dead. And the other saith, No; but thy son is dead, and my son is alive.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before 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 woman, of whom the living child was, spoke unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it, for she is its mother.
28 And all Israel heard of that judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to judge.
4 ¶ So king Solomon was king over all Israel.
2 And these were the princes which he had: Azariah, the son of Zadok, the priest,
3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes, Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, writer of the chronicles;
4 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests;
5 Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over the officers; and Zabud, the son of Nathan, was the priest and special companion of the king;
6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram, the son of Abda, was over the tribute.
7 And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who maintained the king and his household. Each one of them made provision for one month in the year.
8 And these are their names: The son of Hur, in Mount Ephraim;
9 the son of Dekar, in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Bethshemesh and in Elon and in Bethhanan;
10 the son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh and all the land of Hepher.
11 The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor, who had Taphath, the daughter of Solomon, to wife;
12 Baana, the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo and all Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam;
13 the son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which were in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and brasen bars;
14 Ahinadab, the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;
15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath, the daughter of Solomon, to wife.
16 Baanah, the son of Hushai, was in Asher and in Aloth;
17 Jehoshaphat, the son of Paruah, in Issachar;
18 Shimei, the son of Elah, in Benjamin;
19 Geber, the son of Uri, was in the land of Gilead, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan; and in addition to these there was an officer over all the land.
20 ¶ Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt, and they brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and sixty measures of meal,
23 ten fat oxen and twenty oxen out of the pastures and one hundred sheep beside harts and roebucks and fallowdeer and fatted fowl.
24 For he had dominion over all the region on the other side of the river and from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on the other side of the river, and he had peace on all sides {Heb. with all the slaves} round about him.
25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
26 And Solomon had forty thousand horses in his stables for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
27 And these officers maintained King Solomon and all that came unto king Solomon’s table, each one in his month; they made sure nothing was lacking.
28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and beasts of burden unto the place where he was, each one according to his charge.
29 ¶ And God gave Solomon exceedingly great wisdom and intelligence and magnanimity of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
31 For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was named in all nations round about.
32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
33 And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of animals and of fowl and of serpents and of fishes.
34 And they came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 ¶ And Solomon, the son of David, was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly.
2 Then Solomon spoke unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every prince in all Israel, the chief of the fathers.
3 So Solomon and all the congregation with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for there was the tabernacle of the testimony of God, which Moses the slave of the LORD had made in the wilderness.
4 But David had brought the ark of God up from Kirjathjearim to the place which David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.
5 Moreover, the brasen altar that Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the LORD; and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it.
6 And Solomon went up there to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the testimony, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.
7 And that night God appeared unto Solomon and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.
8 And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David, my father, and hast placed me as king in his stead.
9 Now, O LORD God, let thy word unto David, my father, be established, for thou hast placed me as king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.
10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?
11 And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth or glory, nor the life of thy enemies, neither yet hast asked long life, but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou may judge my people, over whom I have placed thee as king,
12 wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will also give thee riches and wealth and glory such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall any after thee have the like.
13 ¶ Then Solomon returned to Jerusalem from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tabernacle of the testimony, and reigned over Israel.
14 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
15 And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and he made cedar trees as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance.
16 And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
17 And they went up and brought forth out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for one hundred and fifty; and so they brought out horses for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria, by their hands.
A Psalm for Solomon.
1 ¶ Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.
2 ¶ He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the destitute and shall break in pieces the violent.
5 They shall fear thee along with the sun and before the moon throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass as the dew that waters the earth.
7 In his days shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace until there is no longer any moon.
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
9 Those that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all Gentiles shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the destitute when he cries and the poor that has no helper.
13 He shall have mercy on the poor and destitute and shall save the souls of the poor in spirit.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily he shall be given blessings.
16 There shall be planted a handful of grain in the earth upon the tops of the mountains; its fruit shall thunder like Lebanon; and out of the city they shall blossom like the grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure for ever; before the sun his name shall be disseminated, and all Gentiles shall be blessed in him; they shall call him blessed.
18 ¶ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, the only one who does wondrous things
19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
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