< 1 Kings 3 >
1 And Solomon joins in marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and takes the daughter of Pharaoh, and brings her to the City of David, until he completes to build his own house, and the house of YHWH, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.
2 Only, the people are sacrificing in high places, for there has not been built a house for the Name of YHWH until those days.
3 And Solomon loves YHWH, to walk in the statutes of his father David—only, he is sacrificing and making incense in high places—
4 and the king goes to Gibeon, to sacrifice there, for it [is] the great high place; Solomon causes one thousand burnt-offerings to ascend on that altar.
5 YHWH has appeared to Solomon in Gibeon, in a dream of the night, and God says, “Ask—what do I give to you?”
6 And Solomon says, “You have done with Your servant, my father David, great kindness, as he walked before You in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You, and You keep this great kindness for him, and give to him a son sitting on his throne, as [at] this day.
7 And now, O YHWH my God, You have caused Your servant to reign instead of my father David; and I [am] a little child, I do not know [how] to go out and to come in;
8 and Your servant [is] in the midst of your people, whom You have chosen, a people numerous, that is not numbered nor counted for multitude,
9 and You have given an understanding heart to Your servant, to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 And the thing is good in the eyes of the Lord, that Solomon has asked this thing,
11 and God says to him, “Because that you have asked for this thing, and have not asked for many days for yourself, nor asked for riches for yourself, nor asked for the life of your enemies, and have asked for discernment for yourself to understand judgment,
12 behold, I have done according to your words; behold, I have given a wise and understanding heart to you, that there has not been [one] like you before you, and after you there does not arise [one] like you;
13 and also, that which you have not asked for I have given to you, both riches and honor, that there has not been a man like you among the kings [for] all your days;
14 and if you walk in My ways to keep My statutes, and My commands, as your father David walked, then I have prolonged your days.”
15 And Solomon awakens, and behold, [it was] a dream; and he comes to Jerusalem, and stands before the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, and causes burnt-offerings to ascend, and makes peace-offerings, and he makes a banquet for all his servants.
16 Then two women, harlots, come to the king, and they stand before him,
17 and the first woman says, “O my lord, this woman and I are dwelling in one house, and I bring forth with her, in the house;
18 and it comes to pass on the third day of my bringing forth, that this woman also brings forth, and we [are] together, there is no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us, in the house.
19 And the son of this woman dies at night, because she has lain on him,
20 and she rises in the middle of the night, and takes my son from beside me—and your handmaid is asleep—and lays him in her bosom, and she has laid her dead son in my bosom;
21 and I rise in the morning to suckle my son, and behold, [he is] dead; and I consider in the morning concerning it, and behold, it was not my son whom I bore.”
22 And the other woman says, “No, but my son [is] the living, and your son the dead”; and this [one] says, “No, but your son [is] the dead, and my son the living.” And they speak before the king.
23 And the king says, “This [one] says, This [is] my son, the living, and your son [is] the dead; and that [one] says, No, but your son [is] the dead, and my son the living.”
24 And the king says, “Take a sword for me”; and they bring the sword before the king,
25 and the king says, “Cut the living child into two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 And the woman whose son [is] the living one says to the king (for her bowels yearned over her son), indeed, she says, “O my lord, give the living child to her, and do not put him to death at all”; and this [one] says, “Let him be neither mine or yours—cut [him].”
27 And the king answers and says, “Give the living child to her [who wants him], and do not put him to death at all; she [is] his mother.”
28 And all [in] Israel hear of the judgment that the king has judged, and fear because of the king, for they have seen that the wisdom of God [is] in his heart to do judgment.
