1. Solomon’s Thousand Burnt Offerings

ch3 ¹ And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. ² Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days. ³ And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. ⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that [was] the great high place:

a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. ⁵ In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁶ And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as [it is] this day. ⁷ And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I [am but] a little child: I know not [how] to go out or come in. ⁸ And thy servant [is] in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ⁹ Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

¹⁰ And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; ¹² Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. ¹³ And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. ¹⁴ And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

¹⁵ And 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 up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

2. Solomon’s Wise Judgment – He Discerned the True Mother

¹⁶ Then came there two women, [that were] harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷ And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. ¹⁸ And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we [were] together; [there was] no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. ¹⁹ And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. ²⁰ And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ²¹ And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. ²² And the other woman said, Nay; but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] thy son. And this said, No; but the dead [is] thy son, and the living [is] my son. Thus they spake before the king.

²³ Then said the king, The one saith, This [is] my son that liveth, and thy son [is] the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son [is] the dead, and my son [is] the living. ²⁴ And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

²⁶ Then spake the woman whose the living child [was] unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, [but] divide [it].

²⁷ Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she [is] the mother thereof. ²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God [was] in him, to do judgment.

3. The Splendor of Solomon’s Servants and Court

ch4 ¹ So king Solomon was king over all Israel. ² And these [were] the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, ³ Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder. ⁴ And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests: ⁵ And Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan [was] principal officer, [and] the king's friend: ⁶ And Ahishar [was] over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the tribute.

⁷ And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision. ⁸ And these [are] their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim: ⁹ The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan: ¹⁰ The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him [pertained] Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher: ¹¹ The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife: ¹² Baana the son of Ahilud; [to him pertained] Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which [is] by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, [even] unto [the place that is] beyond Jokneam: ¹³ The son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which [are] in Gilead; to him [also pertained] the region of Argob, which [is] in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars: ¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Iddo [had] Mahanaim: ¹⁵ Ahimaaz [was] in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife: ¹⁶ Baanah the son of Hushai [was] in Asher and in Aloth: ¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar: ¹⁸ Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin: ¹⁹ Geber the son of Uri [was] in the country of Gilead, [in] the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and [he was] the only officer which [was] in the land.

²⁰ Judah and Israel [were] many, as the sand which [is] by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. ²¹ And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. ²² And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ²³ Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. ²⁴ For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.

²⁵ And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶ And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. ²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his charge.

4. The Wisdom of Solomon

²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that [is] on the sea shore. ³⁰ And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. ³² And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. ³³ And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that [is] in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. ³⁴ And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.