1 Kings 3
1AND the Lord gave Solomon understanding, and comprehensive wisdom, and an enlargement of heart, like the sand on the seashore; so that the knowledge of Solomon was enlarged far above the knowledge of all the ancients, and above all the wise men of Egypt. And he took the daughter of Pharao, and brought her to the city of David, until he finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, which he did first, and also the wall of Jerusalem round about. These he began, and finished in seven years; for he had seventy thousand men who carried burdens, and eighty thousand hewers of stone on the mountains. And Solomon made the sea, and its supporters, and the great lavers, and the pillars, and the fountain in the court. And over the brazen sea he built the turreted shelter for it, and cut a canal through the city of David. And when Pharao’s daughter went up out of the city of David into her house, which he had built for her, he then built the citadel.
And Solomon offered, every year, three whole burnt offerings, and peace offerings, on the altar which he built for the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord, and finished the house. Now the chiefs who were set over the works of Solomon were three thousand six hundred. They superintended the people who performed the works. He built also Assour, and Magdo, and Gazer, and upper Baithoron, and Ballath. But this was after he had built the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. After finishing these he built the cities above mentioned.
Now king Solomon was very prudent and wise; and Juda and Israel were exceedingly numerous, like the sand on the seashore for multitude, eating, and drinking, and rejoicing. And Solomon was chief among all the kingdoms, and they brought him gifts, and served him all the days of his life. And Solomon began opening the fastnesses of Libanus, and he built Thermai in the wilderness. And this was Solomon’s allowance for dinner, thirty cor-measures of fine flour, and sixty cors of barley meal; ten oxen stall fed, and twenty oxen from the pasture, and one hundred sheep, besides hinds, fallow deer, and choice fatted fowls; for he was supreme over all the country on this side the river, from Raphi to Gaza, over all the kings bordering on the river, and he was at peace with all around him; so that Juda and Israel dwelt securely, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree, eating and drinking, and feasting, from Dan to Bersabee, all the days of Solomon.
And these were Solomon’s principal officers: Azarias, son of Sadok, was priest, and Ornias, son of Nathan, was chief over the overseers; and Edramen was steward; and Suba scribe, and Basa, son of Achithalam, recorder; and Abi, son of Joab, captain general of the army; and Achire, son of Edrai, was at the head of the board of works; and Banaias, son of Jodae, was captain of the guards; and Kashur, son of Nathan, counsellor. And Solomon had four thousand breeding mares for carriages, and twelve thousand horses. And he was supreme over all the kings from the river to the land of the Philistines, and even to the borders of Egypt.
Now Solomon, son of David, reigned over Israel and Juda in Jerusalem;
2but the people were in the practice of burning incense on the high places, because till this time there was not a house built to the Lord.
3And Solomon loved the Lord, to walk in the statutes of his father David; but he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
4So he arose and went to Gabaon because it was the highest and greatest to sacrifice there. And when Solomon had offered there a whole burnt offering of a thousand victims upon the altar of Gabaon,
5the Lord appeared to him that night in a dream, and said to him, Ask for thyself any favour.
6Thereupon Solomon said, Thou hast shewn great kindness to Thy servant David, my father. As he walked before Thee in truth and righteousness and in uprightness of heart with Thee, Thou therefore hast kept for him this great kindness to set his son on his throne as at this day.
7Now therefore, O Lord my God, as Thou hast appointed me Thy servant in the room of my father David, and I am but a little child and know not how to go out and come in,
8and Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people whom Thou hast chosen, an immense people which cannot be numbered,
9give therefore to Thy servant a heart to hear and to judge Thy people righteously, and to discern between good and evil; for who can judge this Thy people, this great people which is so numerous?
10And it was well pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon made this request;
11therefore the Lord said to him, Because thou hast asked this of Me, and hast not asked for thyself many days, nor riches, nor the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment,
12behold I have granted thy request—behold I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that before thee there hath not been one like thee, nor after thee shall there arise one like thee.
13Moreover I have given thee what thou didst not ask, riches and glory; so that there hath not been among kings a man like thee.
14And if thou wilt walk in My ways to keep My commandments and My statutes, as thy father David did, I will also multiply thy days.
15And Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream. Then he arose and came to Jerusalem, and stood before the altar which is in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord in Sion, and offered whole burnt offerings; and having offered also offerings of thanksgiving, he made a great entertainment for himself and all his servants.
16Then there appeared before the king two women who were harlots, and when they stood in his presence
17one of them said, Hear me, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and we were delivered of children in the same house.
18And it happened that the third day after my delivery this woman was delivered. We were together. There is nobody with us—none but we two in the house.
19And this woman’s son died in the night, as she overlaid it.
20And she arose in the middle of the night, and took my son out of my arms, and laid it in her bosom; and her own child which was dead, she laid in my bosom.
21So when I arose in the morning to give my son suck, behold it was dead. But when I examined it attentively in the morning, behold it was not my son whom I bore.
22And the other woman said, No: but the living is my son and the dead is thy son. And when both had spoken before the king,
23he said to them, Thou sayst, This is my child which is alive, and that which is dead is that woman’s child. And thou sayst, No: but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.
24Then the king said, Bring me a sword. And when they had laid the sword before the king,
25he said, Divide the living child—the infant, in two; and give one half to this woman and the other half to that woman.
26Upon this the woman whose son the living child really was, answered and said to the king—because her bowels yearned for her son, therefore she said, I beseech thee my lord, Give her the child. Do not kill it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor hers. Divide it.
27Then the king answered and said, Give the child to her who said, Give the child to her and do not kill it; for she is the mother.
28And when all Israel heard the judgment which the king had given, they feared the king, for they saw that there was in him the wisdom of God to execute judgment.