31 Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt , and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem . 2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places , because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days .
3 Now Solomon loved the Lord , walking in the statutes of his father David , except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places . 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there , for that was the great high place ; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar .
5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night ; and God said , " Ask what you wish me to give you." 6 Then Solomon said , " You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father , according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness , that You have given him a son to sit on his throne , as it is this day . 7 "Now , O Lord my God , You have made Your servant king in place of my father David , yet I am but a little child ; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 " Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen , a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted . 9 "So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil . For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?" 10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing . 11 God said to him, "Because e you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life , nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies , but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice , 12 behold , I have done according to your words . Behold , I have given you a wise and discerning heart , so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 " I have also given you what you have not asked , both riches and honor , so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days . 14 " If you walk in My ways , keeping My statutes and commandments , as your father David walked , then I will prolong your days ." 15 Then Solomon awoke , and behold , it was a dream . And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord , and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings , and made a feast for all his servants .
16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said , "Oh , my lord , this woman and I live in the same house ; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house . 18 "It happened on the third day after I gave birth , that this woman also gave birth to a child , and we were together . There was no stranger with us in the house , only the two of us in the house . 19 "This woman's son died in the night , because she lay on it. 20 "So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept , and laid him in her bosom , and laid her dead son in my bosom . 21 "When I rose in the morning to nurse my son , behold , he was dead ; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning , behold , he was not my son , whom I had borne ." 22 Then the other woman said , "No ! For the living one is my son , and the dead one is your son ." But the first woman said , "No ! For the dead one is your son , and the living one is my son ." Thus they spoke before the king . 23 Then the king said , "The one says , 'This is my son who is living , and your son is the dead one'; and the other says , 'No ! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one .' " 24 The king said , "Get me a sword ." So 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 was deeply e stirred over her son and said , "Oh , my lord , give her the living child , and by no means kill him." But the other said , "He shall be neither e mine nor yours; divide him!" 27 Then the king said , "Give the first woman the living child , and by no means kill him. She is his mother ." 28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down , they feared the king , for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice .
41 Now King Solomon was king over all Israel . 2 These were his officials : Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest ; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah , the sons of Shisha were secretaries ; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder ; 4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army ; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests ; 5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the deputies ; and Zabud the son of Nathan , a priest , was the king's friend ; 6 and Ahishar was over the household ; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor . 7 Solomon had twelve e deputies over all Israel , who provided for the king and his household ; each man had to provide for a month in the year . 8 These are their names : Ben-hur , in the hill country of Ephraim ; 9 Ben-deker in Makaz and Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan ; 10 Ben-hesed , in Arubboth ( Socoh was his and all the land of Hepher ); 11 Ben-abinadab , in all the height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife ); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud , in Taanach and Megiddo , and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below e Jezreel , from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam ; 13 Ben-geber , in Ramoth-gilead ( the towns of Jair , the son of Manasseh , which are in Gilead were his: the region of Argob , which is in Bashan , sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo , in Mahanaim ; 15 Ahimaaz , in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon ); 16 Baana the son of Hushai , in Asher and Bealoth ; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah , in Issachar ; 18 Shimei the son of Ela , in Benjamin ; 19 Geber the son of Uri , in the land of Gilead , the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan ; and he was the only deputy who was in the land .
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance ; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing . 21 Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt ; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life . 22 Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal , 23 ten fat oxen , twenty pasture-fed oxen , a hundred sheep besides e deer , gazelles , roebucks , and fattened fowl . 24 For he had dominion over everything west of the River , from Tiphsah even to Gaza , over all the kings west of the River ; and he had peace on all sides around about him. 25 So Judah and Israel lived in safety , every man under his vine and his fig tree , from Dan even to Beersheba , all the days of Solomon . 26 Solomon had 40,000 e stalls of horses for his chariots , and 12,000 e e horsemen . 27 Those deputies provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon's table , each in his month ; they left nothing e lacking . 28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where e it should be, each according to his charge .
29 Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind , like the sand that is on the seashore e . 30 Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt . 31 For he was wiser than all men , than Ethan the Ezrahite , Heman , Calcol and Darda , the sons of Mahol ; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations . 32 He also spoke 3,000 e proverbs , and his songs were 1,005 e . 33 He spoke of trees , from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall ; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish . 34 Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon , from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom .
11 Now Solomon the son of David established himself securely over his kingdom , and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him greatly . 2 Solomon spoke to all Israel , to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel , the heads of the fathers' households. 3 Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon , for God's tent of meeting was there , which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness . 4 However , David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim [1]to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem . 5 Now the bronze altar , which Bezalel the son of Uri , the son of Hur , had made , [2]was there before the tabernacle of the Lord , and Solomon and the assembly sought it out. 6 Solomon went up there before the Lord to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting , and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. 7 In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you." 8 Solomon said to God , "You have dealt with my father David with great lovingkindness , and have made me king in his place . 9 "Now , O Lord God , Your [3]promise to my father David is fulfilled , for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth . 10 " Give me now wisdom and knowledge , that I may go out and come in before this people , for who can rule this great people of Yours?" 11 God said to Solomon , "Because e [4]you had this in mind , and did not ask for riches , wealth or honor , or the life of those who hate you, nor have you even asked for long life , but you have asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may rule My people over whom I have made you king , 12 wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will give you riches and wealth and honor , [5]such e as none of the kings who were before you has possessed e nor those who will [6]come after you."
13 So Solomon went [7]from the high place which was at Gibeon , from the tent of meeting , to Jerusalem , and he reigned over Israel .
14 Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen . He had 1,400 e e chariots and 12,000 e e horsemen , and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem . 15 The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones , and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the [8]lowland . 16 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue ; the king's traders procured them from Kue for a price . 17 They [9]imported e chariots from Egypt for 600 e shekels of silver apiece and horses for 150 e apiece, and [10]by the same means e they [11]exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram .
721 Give the king Your judgments , O God , And Your righteousness to the king's son .
2 May he judge Your people with righteousness And Your afflicted with justice . 3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people , And the hills , in righteousness . 4 May he vindicate the afflicted of the people , Save the children of the needy And crush the oppressor . 5 Let them fear You while the sun endures, And as long as the moon , throughout all generations . 6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, Like showers that water the earth . 7 In his days may the righteous flourish , And abundance of peace till the moon is no more . 8 May he also rule from sea to sea And from the River to the ends of the earth . 9 Let the nomads of the desert bow before him, And his enemies lick the dust . 10 Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents ; The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts . 11 And let all kings bow down before him, All nations serve him. 12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help , The afflicted also, and him who has no helper . 13 He will have compassion on the poor and needy , And the lives of the needy he will save . 14 He will rescue their life from oppression and violence , And their blood will be precious in his sight ; 15 So may he live , and may the gold of Sheba be given to him; And let them pray for him continually ; Let them bless him all day long. 16 May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains ; Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon ; And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth . 17 May his name endure forever ; May his name increase as long as the sun shines; And let men bless themselves by him; Let all nations call him blessed .
18 Blessed be the Lord God , the God of Israel , Who alone works wonders . 19 And blessed be His glorious name forever ; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory . Amen , and Amen . 20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended .
