Old/New Testament

Solomon Prays for Wisdom^(A)

3 Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of^[a] Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the Lord’s Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to^[b] the Lord.

³ Solomon loved the Lord, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places. ⁴ The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ The Lord appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, “Ask me for whatever you want and I’ll give it to you.”

⁶ So Solomon said:

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, ¹¹ so God told him:

¹⁵ Then Solomon woke up and realized that he had dreamed a dream. Then he went back to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and threw a party for all of his servants.

Solomon’s Wisdom is Tested

¹⁶ Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. ¹⁷ One woman said, “Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸ Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. ¹⁹ This woman’s son died overnight because she laid on top of him. ²⁰ She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. ²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!”

²² “Not so,” claimed the other woman. “The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours.”

But the first woman said, “Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son.” This is what they testified before the king.

²³ The king said, “One of them claims, ‘This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one’ and the other claims ‘No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.’ ²⁴ “Somebody get me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king. ²⁵ “Divide the living child in two!” he ordered. “Give half to the one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. “Oh no, your majesty!” she said. “Give her the living child. Please don’t kill him.”

But the other woman said, “Cut him in half! That way, he’ll belong to neither one of us.”

²⁷ The king announced his decision: “Give the living child to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at^[d] the king, because they all saw that God’s wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.

Solomon’s Administration

4 And so King Solomon ruled over all of Israel. ² Here’s a list of his officials: Zadok’s son Azariah was priest, ³ Shisha’s sons Elihoreph and Ahijah were his secretaries, Ahilud’s son Jehoshaphat was recorder, ⁴ Jehoiada’s son Benaiah commanded the army, Zadok and Abiathar served as priests, ⁵ Nathan’s son Azariah supervised the governors, Nathan’s son Zabud the priest was the king’s counselor, ⁶ Ahishar supervised palace matters, and Abda’s son Adoniram supervised conscripted labor. ⁷ Solomon also appointed twelve governors over all of Israel, each of whom were responsible for providing one month’s food provisions to the king and to his administration during each year.

⁸ Here’s a list of their names: Ben-hur from the hill country of Ephraim; ⁹ Ben-deker in Makaz, Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; ¹⁰ Ben-hesed served in Arubboth (where he supervised Socoh and all of the territory of Hepher); ¹¹ Ben-abinadab supervised the Dor heights (Solomon’s daughter Taphath was his wife); ¹² Ahilud’s son Baana served Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, including from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam; ¹³ Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead, including the towns that belonged to Manasseh’s descendant Jair that are in Gilead; ¹⁴ Iddo’s son Ahinadab served in Mahanaim; ¹⁵ Ahimaaz served in Naphtali (he was married to Solomon’s daughter Basemath); ¹⁶ Hushai’s son Baana served in Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷ Paruah’s son Jehoshaphat served in Issachar; ¹⁸ Ela’s son Shimei served in Benjamin; ¹⁹ and Uri’s son Geber served in the territory of Gilead, the territory formerly ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan (he was the only governor over that territory).

Solomon’s Magnificence

²⁰ Judah and Israel became as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They enjoyed abundance, and ate, drank, and rejoiced regularly. ^21 [e]Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River^[f] to the territory of the Philistines and south^[g] to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon throughout his lifetime. ²² Solomon’s daily provisions were 30 kors of fine flour, 60 kors of meal, ²³ ten fattened oxen, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and domestic poultry. ²⁴ He ruled over everything west of the Euphrates^[h] River from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all of the kings west of the Euphrates^[i] River, and he enjoyed peace on all sides around him.

²⁵ Judah and Israel lived safely, and everyone enjoyed their own vine and fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba through all of Solomon’s life. ²⁶ Solomon owned 40,000 stalls for the horses that drove his chariots, and he employed 12,000 men to drive them.^{[j] 27} His officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and for everyone who visited King Solomon’s palace,^[k] each in their respective month of service responsibility.^[l] Nothing ever ran out. ²⁸ They also provided barley and straw for the horses and camels to their respective locations, each consistent with their responsibilities.

Solomon’s Fame

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and great discernment. His insights were as numerous as sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon was wiser than any of the eastern leaders and wiser than anyone in Egypt. ³¹ He was wiser than anyone of his day—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and wiser than Mahol’s sons Calcol and Darda.

His reputation was known throughout the surrounding nations. ³² Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. ³³ He described trees—everything from cedars^[m] that grow in Lebanon to hyssop that grows on a garden wall. He described animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴ People came from everywhere to hear Solomon’s advice. Every king on the earth heard of his wisdom.

Preparations to Build the Temple^(B)

5 ^[n]King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he learned that Solomon^[o] had been anointed king to replace his father, because Hiram had been David’s lifelong friend.^{[p] 2} Solomon sent this message to Hiram:

⁷ As soon as Hiram received the message from Solomon, he became so ecstatic that he exclaimed, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people!” Then he sent this message to Solomon:

¹⁰ That’s how Hiram came to provide Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he needed. ¹¹ In return, Solomon paid Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as food for his household, and 20 kors of beaten oil. Solomon provided this amount every year during the construction.^[t]

¹² The Lord continued giving Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised, and Hiram and Solomon entered into a peace treaty between themselves.

Conscripted Labor for the Building Program

¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers from throughout Israel. The work force numbered 30,000 men. ¹⁴ He sent 10,000 men to Lebanon in shifts lasting one month. They worked one month in Lebanon for every two months they worked at home. Adoniram was placed in charge of the conscripted labor. ¹⁵ Solomon also employed 70,000 heavy-lift workers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country. ¹⁶ Solomon also employed 3,300 officials to supervise the work and to manage the people employed in the construction. ¹⁷ The king specified that large, expensive stones be quarried so the foundation of the Temple could be laid with cut stones. ¹⁸ As a result, Solomon’s builders worked with Hiram’s builders, accompanied by the Gebalites, to quarry the stone and to prepare the timber and other^[u] stone for the Temple’s construction.

Jesus’ Authority is Challenged^(A)

20 One day, while Jesus^[a] was teaching the people in the Temple and telling them the good news, the high priests and the scribes came with the elders ² and asked him, “Tell us: By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

³ He answered them, “I, too, will ask you a question.^[b] Tell me: ⁴ Was John’s authority to baptize^[c] from heaven or from humans?”

⁵ They discussed this among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From humans,’ all the people will stone us to death, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it was from.

⁸ Then Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.”

The Parable about the Tenant Farmers^(B)

⁹ Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long time. ¹⁰ At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers in order to get his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, and they beat him, too, treated him shamefully, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹² Then he sent a third, and they wounded him and threw him out, too.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son whom I love. Maybe they’ll respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the farmers saw him, they talked it over among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours!’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”

Those who heard him said, “That must never happen!”

¹⁷ But Jesus^[d] looked at them and asked, “What does this text mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

¹⁹ When the scribes and the high priests realized that Jesus^[f] had told this parable about them, they wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the crowd.

A Question about Paying Taxes^(C)

²⁰ So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honest men in order to trap him in what he would say. They wanted to hand him over to the jurisdiction^[g] of the governor, ²¹ so they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach, and that you don’t favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully. ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³ But he discerned their craftiness and responded to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose face and name does it have?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁵ So he told them, “Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶ So they couldn’t catch him before the people in what he said. Amazed at his answer, they became silent.