The Daily Audio Bible

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, though he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ While he was in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and He said, “Ask what you want from Me.”

⁶ Solomon answered, “You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You. And You have shown him great kindness in giving him a son to sit on his throne this day.

⁷ “Now, O Lord, my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, and I am still a little child and do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, so numerous that they cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give Your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge among so great a people?”

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 yourself long life or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself wisdom so that you may have discernment in judging, ¹² I now do according to your words. I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you in the past, and there shall never arise another like you. ¹³ I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no kings will compare to you all of your days. ¹⁴ If you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.” ¹⁵ Solomon awoke and found it was a dream.

Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings and made a feast for all of his servants.

The Wisdom of Solomon

¹⁶ At that time, two women who were prostitutes came and stood before the king. ¹⁷ The first woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I bore a child with her in the house. ¹⁸ Three days after I gave birth, she also had a child, and we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house.

¹⁹ “Then this woman’s child died during the night because she rolled over on it. ²⁰ She got up at midnight and took my son from beside me while your servant slept and laid him at her bosom and laid her dead child at my bosom. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to feed my child, it was dead. But when I looked closely in the morning light, I recognized that it was not my son whom I bore.”

²² The other woman said, “No, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.”

And she said, “No, the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead,’ and the other says, ‘No, but your son is dead, and my son is the living.’ ”

²⁴ So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”

²⁶ Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son, and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and do not kill it.”

But the other said, “Let it be neither mine nor yours and divide it.”

²⁷ Then the king answered and said, “Give her the living child, and do not slay it. She is its mother.”

²⁸ All Israel heard of the king’s judgment, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute sound judgment.

The Court of Solomon

4 So King Solomon was king over all Israel. ² These were the officials in his court:

⁷ Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel who made provision for the king and his household. Each man was assigned a month to make provision. ⁸ These are their names:

The Wealth of Solomon

²⁰ Judah and Israel had a large populace, as numerous as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. ²¹ Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River^[a] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. The people brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors^[b] of fine flour and sixty kors^[c] of meal, ²³ ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep in addition to deer, roebucks, gazelle, and fatted poultry. ²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River^[d] from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River,^[e] and he had peace on all borders of his land. ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba all the days of Solomon.

²⁶ Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

²⁷ Those officers made provision for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, every man in his month, and they lacked nothing. ²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries were brought to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and great depth of understanding as well as compassion, as vast as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Kalkol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. ³² He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. ³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of beasts and of fowl and of insects and fish. ³⁴ People from all over came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

The Seven Helpers

6 Now in those days, as the disciples were multiplied, there was murmuring among the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were overlooked in the daily distribution. ² So the twelve called the multitude of disciples together and said, “It is not reasonable for us to leave the word of God and serve tables. ³ Brothers, look among yourselves for seven men who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint over this duty. ⁴ But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵ And what was said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, who was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Procorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, ⁶ whom they presented before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they placed their hands on them.

⁷ So the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples grew rapidly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith.

The Arrest of Stephen

⁸ Now Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. ⁹ Then some men rose up from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and of Asia), disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and came upon him and seized him and led him to the Sanhedrin, ¹³ and set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ All who sat in the Sanhedrin, gazing at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Psalm 126

A Song of Ascents.