1 Kings 3
1 Solomon went to see the king of Egypt. Solomon [made an agreement with him to] marry his daughter. They also made an alliance/agreement [that their armies would not attack each other]. Then Solomon brought the king’s daughter to live in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. [She lived there] until Solomon’s workers had finished building his house and the temple of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem.
Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh of Egypt. He married Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to live in the City of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord's Temple, and the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
2 [At that time] the temple of Yahweh had not yet been built, so the Israeli people were still offering sacrifices at many other places of worship.
In those days, however, the people still sacrificed on the high places because a Temple to honor the Lord hadn't yet been built.
3 Solomon loved Yahweh, and he obeyed all the instructions that his father David had given him. But he also offered sacrifices and burned incense at various altars.
Solomon showed he loved the Lord by following the instructions of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings on the high places.
4 One day the king went to Gibeon [city] to offer a sacrifice there, because that was where the most famous/important altar was. In previous years he had offered hundreds of sacrifices on that altar.
The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the leading high place. Solomon presented one thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.
5 That night, Yahweh appeared to him in a dream. He asked Solomon, “What would you like me to give to you?”
The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon. God said to him, “Ask what you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon replied, “You always greatly and faithfully loved my father David, who served you [well]. You did that because he (was faithful to/faithfully obeyed) you and acted righteously and honestly toward you. And you have showed how greatly and faithfully you loved him by giving to him me, his son, and now I am ruling [MTY] as he did [before he died].
Solomon replied, “You showed your servant David, my father, great trustworthy love because he lived his life before you with faithfulness, doing what was right and committed to principle. You have continued to show this great trustworthy love by giving him a son to sit on his throne to this day.
7 “Now, Yahweh my God, you have appointed me to be the king like my father was. But I am [very young, like] a little child [MET]. I do not know how to lead/rule my people at all [IDM].
Now, Lord God, you have made me king in place of my father David. But I am like an inexperienced young boy who doesn't know what to do.
8 I am here among the people whom you have chosen. They are a very large group of people; there are very, very many of them, with the result that no one can count them [DOU].
I, your servant, am here in among your chosen people, a great people that are so many they cannot be counted.
9 So please enable me to think clearly, in order that I may rule your people [well]. Enable me to know what is good and what is evil. [If you do not do that, ] I will never [RHQ] be able to rule this great group of people who belong to you.”
So please give me a mind that's receptive so I can rule your people well, understanding the difference between right and wrong, for who can rule this difficult people of yours?”
10 Yahweh was very pleased that Solomon had requested that.
The Lord considered that what Solomon asked for was good.
11 God said to him, “You did not request that you live for many years or that you become very rich or that you be able to kill all your enemies. Instead, you have requested that I enable you to be wise, in order that you will be able to know [and to do] what is right [while you govern these people].
So God told him, “Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life, or wealth, or the death of your enemies, but instead you asked for understanding to know what is right,
12 So, I will certainly do what you requested. I will enable you to be very wise [DOU]. The result will be that no one who has lived before you or who will live after you will be as [wise as] you are.
I am giving you what you asked for. I am giving you a mind that is wise, with an understanding of what is right, more than anyone else before you or after you.
13 I will also give you things that you did not request: I will enable you to become very rich and honored, as long as you live. You will be richer and more honored than any other king.
I am also giving you what you did not ask for, wealth and status—so much so that no king will compare to you for the whole of your life.
14 If you conduct your life [IDM] as I want you to, and if you obey all my laws and commandments, as your father David did, I will enable you to live for many years.”
And if you follow my ways by keeping my laws and my commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon awoke, and he realized that [God had spoken to him in] a dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of [the Sacred Tent where] the Sacred Chest [was], and he offered many sacrifices that were completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then he made a feast for all his officials.
Then Solomon woke up and realized he'd had a dream. He went back to Jerusalem, and stood in front of the Ark of the Lord's Agreement and he presented burnt offerings and friendship offerings, and he held a feast for all his officials.
16 One day two prostitutes came and stood in front of King Solomon.
Later two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him for judgment.
17 One of them said, “Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was there in the house.
One of the women spoke up, saying, “If it please Your Majesty: I share a house with this woman. I had a baby while she was living in the house.
18 Three days after my baby was born, this woman also gave birth to a baby. Only the two of us were in the house; there was no one else there.
Three days after the birth of my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were together; there was no one else in the house, just the two of us.
19 “But one night this woman’s baby died because she [accidentally] rolled on top of her baby [while sleeping and smothered it].
During the night this woman's son died because she rolled over on him.
20 So she got up at midnight and took my baby boy who was lying beside me while I was sleeping. She carried him to her bed and brought her dead baby and put it in my bed.
She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I was sleeping. She lay him close beside her to cuddle him, and she lay her dead son close beside me.
21 When I awoke the next morning and was ready to nurse my baby, I saw that it was dead. But when I looked at it closely in the morning light, I saw that it was not my baby!”
When I got up in the morning to nurse my son I saw that he was dead. When I looked closely at him in the light I realized it wasn't my son.”
22 But the other woman said, “That is not true! The baby that is alive is mine, and the baby that is dead is yours!” Then the first woman said, “No, the dead baby is yours, and the one that is alive is mine!” And they continued to argue in front of the king.
The other woman argued, “No! My son is the one that's alive. Your son is the one that's dead.” The first woman objected, “No! Your son is the one that's dead. My son is the one that's alive.” They went on quarrelling in front of the king.
23 Then the king said, “Both of you are saying, ‘My baby is the one that is alive and the one that is dead is yours.’”
The king intervened, saying, “So this woman says ‘My son is the one that's alive. Your son is the one that's dead,’ while the other woman says, ‘No! Your son is the one that's dead. My son is the one that's alive.’”
24 So he said to one of his servants, “Bring me a sword.” So the servant brought a sword to the king.
“Bring me a sword,” the king ordered. So they brought him a sword.
25 Then the king said to the servant, “Cut the baby that is alive into two parts. Give one part to each of the women.”
“Cut the child that's alive in two, and give half to one woman and half to another,” he commanded.
26 But the woman whose baby was alive loved her baby very much, so she said to the king, “No, Your Majesty! Do not allow him to kill the baby! Give her the child that is alive!” But the other woman said to the king, “No, cut it in half. Then it will not be her baby or my baby.”
But the woman whose son was alive had so much love for him as a mother that she cried out to the king, “Please, Your Majesty, give her the boy! Don't kill him!” But the other woman said, “He won't be mine or yours—cut him in two!”
27 Then the king said to the servant, “Do not kill the baby. Give the baby to the woman who said ‘Do not cut the baby in half,’ because she is truly the baby’s mother.”
The king gave his verdict. “Give the child that's alive to the first woman,” he ordered. “On no account kill him, for she is his real mother.”
28 All the Israeli people heard about what the king had decided, and they revered him. They realized that God had truly enabled him to be very wise, to judge people’s matters fairly.
When everyone in Israel heard about the verdict the king had delivered, they had great respect for the king, because they recognized the wisdom God had given him to judge rightly.
