1 Kings 3

1Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house, the house of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2Yet the people were sacrificing at the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD in those days.

3Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father; only, he was sacrificing and burning incense at the high places.

4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.”

6Solomon said, “You have shown great steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

7“Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father. But I am a small youth; I do not know how to go out or come in.

8“Your servant is among your people, whom you have chosen—a great people, too many to be counted or numbered because of their multitude.

9“Give your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil. For who can judge this weighty people of yours?”

10The matter pleased the Lord, because Solomon had asked for this.

11God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and have not asked for yourself long life, or asked for yourself riches, or asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to hear judgment,

12look, I have done according to your words. Look, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you will arise after you.

13“I have also given you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no one among kings will be like you all your days.

14“And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

15Then Solomon awoke, and look, it was a dream. He came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered burnt offerings and made well-being offerings, and he made a feast for all his servants.

16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

17One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.

18“On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no stranger with us in the house. Only the two of us were in the house.

19“This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.

20“She rose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was sleeping. She laid him in her bosom, and she laid her dead son in my bosom.

21“When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, look, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, look, he was not my son whom I had borne.”

22But the other woman said, “No! My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.” And this woman said, “No! Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.” So they spoke before the king.

23Then the king said, “This one says, ‘My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one’; and that one says, ‘No! Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”

24The king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword before the king.

25Then the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other.”

26Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, because her compassion was stirred for her son. She said, “Please, my lord, give her the living child; by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He will be neither mine nor yours; cut him in two.”

27Then the king answered and said, “Give her the living child, and by no means put him to death. She is his mother.”

28All Israel heard the judgment that the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was within him to do justice.