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3 Now (A)Solomon loved the Lord, (B)walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 4 And (C)the king went to (D)Gibeon to sacrifice there, (E)because that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 (F)In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon (G)in a dream at night; and God said, “(H)Ask what you wish Me to give you.”
Solomon’s Prayer
6 Then Solomon said, “(I)You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, (J)according as he walked before You in [a]truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and (K)You have [b]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, (L)You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet (M)I am like a little boy; (N)I do not know how to [c]go out or come in. 8 And (O)Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, (P)a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So (Q)give Your servant [d]an understanding heart to judge Your people, (R)to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this [e]great people of Yours?”
God’s Answer
10 Now [f]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 (S)not asked for yourself [g]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, (T)I have done according to your words. Behold, (U)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 (V)I have also given you what you have not asked, both (W)riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 And (X)if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will (Y)prolong your days.”
15 Then (Z)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 (AA)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: [h]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child [i]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 [j]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, “[k]The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and [l]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 [m](AB)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 [n]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 [o]handed down, they feared the king, because (AC)they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to [p]administer justice.
Solomon’s Officials
4 Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was (AD)the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were scribes; (AE)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary; 4 and (AF)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and (AG)Abiathar were priests; 5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over (AH)the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s confidant; 6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor.
7 Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each deputy had to provide food for a month in the year. 8 And these were their names: Ben-hur, in the (AI)hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker in Makaz and (AJ)Shaalbim, and (AK)Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed in Arubboth ((AL)Socoh was his and all the land of (AM)Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab in all [q]the (AN)hills of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud in (AO)Taanach and Megiddo, and all (AP)Beth-shean which is beside (AQ)Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to (AR)Abel-meholah as far as the other side of (AS)Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber in (AT)Ramoth-gilead ((AU)the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: (AV)the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo in (AW)Mahanaim; 15 (AX)Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); 16 Baana the son of (AY)Hushai in Asher and [r]Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issachar; 18 (AZ)Shimei the son of Ela in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri in the land of Gilead, (BA)the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only deputy who was in the land.
Solomon’s Power, Wealth, and Wisdom
20 (BB)Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the [s]seashore in abundance; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.
21 [t](BC)Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms (BD)from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; (BE)they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 Solomon’s [u]provision for one day was [v]thirty kors of fine flour and [w]sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty [x]pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened geese. 24 For he was ruling over everything [y]west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to (BF)Gaza, (BG)over all the kings [z]west of the River; and (BH)he had peace on all sides surrounding him. 25 (BI)So Judah and Israel lived securely, everyone under his vine and his fig tree, (BJ)from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 (BK)Solomon had [aa]forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those deputies provided food for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they allowed nothing to be lacking. 28 They also brought barley and straw for the war horses and (BL)baggage horses to the place where it was required, each deputy according to his duty.
29 Now (BM)God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of [ab]mind, (BN)like the sand that is on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all (BO)the [ac]people of the east and (BP)all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For (BQ)he was wiser than all other people, more than (BR)Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, (BS)Calcol, and [ad]Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his [ae]fame was known in all the surrounding nations. 32 (BT)He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 33 He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. 34 People (BU)came from all the [af]nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
Choosing of the Seven
6 Now [a]at this time, as the (A)disciples were (B)increasing in number, a complaint developed on the part of the [b](C)Hellenistic Jews against the native (D)Hebrews, because their (E)widows were being overlooked in (F)the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the [c]congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 Instead, (G)brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, (H)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 But we will (I)devote ourselves to prayer and to the [d]ministry of the word.” 5 The [e]announcement found approval with the whole [f]congregation; and they chose (J)Stephen, a man (K)full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and (L)Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and [g]Nicolas, a [h](M)proselyte from (N)Antioch. 6 And they brought these men before the apostles; and after (O)praying, they (P)laid their hands on them.
7 (Q)The word of God kept spreading; and (R)the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to (S)the faith.
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great (T)wonders and [i]signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both (U)Cyrenians and (V)Alexandrians, and some from (W)Cilicia and [j](X)Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to [k]cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they (Y)came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him [l]before (Z)the [m]Council. 13 They put forward (AA)false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop [n]speaking against this (AB)holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that (AC)this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change (AD)the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15 And all who were sitting in the [o](AE)Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.
Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity.
A Song of Ascents.
126 When the Lord (A)brought back [a]the captives of Zion,
We were (B)like those who dream.
2 Then our (C)mouth was filled with laughter
And our (D)tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has (E)done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
We are (F)joyful.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.