1 Kings 3-4New King James Version (NKJV)
Solomon Requests Wisdom
3 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of
Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David
until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord,
and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the
people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the
name of the Lord until those days. 3 And
Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David,
except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
4 Now 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 At
Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God
said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
6 And Solomon said: “You have shown
great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in
truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have
continued this great kindness for him, and 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 instead of my father
David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to
go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in
the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to
be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your
servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between
good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 The speech pleased the Lord, that
Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to
him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for
yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your
enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold,
I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and
understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor
shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have
also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there
shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So
if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father
David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it
had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the
covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings,
and made a feast for all his servants.
Solomon’s Wise Judgment
16 Now two women who were harlots
came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And one
woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave
birth while she was in the house. 18 Then
it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave
birth. And we were together; no one was with
us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And
this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So
she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your
maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my
bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse
my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed,
he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22 Then the other woman said, “No!
But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your
son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your
son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23 And the king said, “The one says,
‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the
dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead
one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 Then
the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the
king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living
child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was living
spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said,
“O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor
yours, but divide him.”
27 So the king answered and said,
“Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his
mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the
judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw
that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
Solomon’s Administration
4 So King Solomon was king over all
Israel. 2 And these were his
officials: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; 3 Elihoreph
and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the
recorder; 4 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, over the
army; Zadok and Abiathar, the priests; 5 Azariah
the son of Nathan, over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest and the
king’s friend; 6 Ahishar, over the household; and
Adoniram the son of Abda, over the labor force.
7 And Solomon had twelve governors
over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one
made provision for one month of the year. 8 These are their
names: Ben-Hur,[a] in the mountains of
Ephraim; 9 Ben-Deker,[b] in Makaz, Shaalbim,
Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; 10 Ben-Hesed,[c] in Arubboth; to
him belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher; 11 Ben-Abinadab,[d] in all the
regions of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife; 12 Baana
the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shean,
which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel
Meholah, as far as the other side of Jokneam; 13 Ben-Geber,[e] in Ramoth Gilead; to
him belonged the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, in Gilead;
to him also belonged the region of Argob in Bashan—sixty large
cities with walls and bronze gate-bars; 14 Ahinadab
the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz,
in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife; 16 Baanah
the son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth; 17 Jehoshaphat
the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18 Shimei the son
of Elah, in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri, in
the land of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the
Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only governor
who was in the land.
Prosperity and Wisdom of Solomon’s Reign
20 Judah and Israel were as
numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and
rejoicing. 21 So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms
from the River[f] to the
land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought
tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 Now Solomon’s provision for one
day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, 23 ten
fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides
deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.
24 For he had dominion over all the
region on this side of the River[g]from Tiphsah even to Gaza,
namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every
side all around him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt
safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba,
all the days of Solomon.
26 Solomon had forty[h] thousand stalls of
horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And
these governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for
all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply. 28 They
also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the horses and steeds,
each man according to his charge.
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and
exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the
seashore. 30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the
wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For
he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and
Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding
nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and
his songs were one thousand and five. 33 Also he
spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs
out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of
fish. 34 And men of all nations, from all the kings
of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
2 Chronicles 1New King James Version (NKJV)
Solomon Requests Wisdom
1 Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened
in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him
and exalted him exceedingly.
2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to
the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader
in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses. 3 Then
Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at
Gibeon; for the tabernacle of meeting with God was there, which Moses the
servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. 4 But
David had brought up the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim to the place David
had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. 5 Now
the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put[a] before the tabernacle
of the Lord; Solomon and the assembly sought Him there. 6 And
Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at
the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
7 On that night God appeared to
Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
8 And Solomon said to God: “You have
shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9 Now,
O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for
You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in
multitude. 10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge,
that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great
people of Yours?”
11 Then God said to Solomon: “Because
this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the
life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life—but have asked wisdom and
knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you
king— 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted
to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the
kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you
have the like.”
Solomon’s Military and Economic Power
13 So Solomon came to Jerusalem from
the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tabernacle
of meeting, and reigned over Israel. 14 And Solomon
gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and
twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the
king in Jerusalem. 15 Also the king made silver and
gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as the
sycamores which are in the lowland. 16 And
Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought
them in Keveh at the current price. 17 They
also acquired and imported from Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of
silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty; thus, through their agents,[b] they exported them to
all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.
Psalm 72New King James Version (NKJV)
Glory and Universality of the Messiah’s Reign
A Psalm of Solomon.
72 Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
2 He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
3 The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will break in pieces the oppressor.
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
2 He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
3 The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will break in pieces the oppressor.
5 They shall fear You[a]
As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
7 In His days the righteous shall flourish,
And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.
As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
7 In His days the righteous shall flourish,
And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.
8 He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
And His enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba
Will offer gifts.
11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
And His enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba
Will offer gifts.
11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
12 For He will deliver the needy when
he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And precious shall be their blood in His sight.
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And precious shall be their blood in His sight.
15 And He shall live;
And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
And daily He shall be praised.
And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
And daily He shall be praised.
16 There will be an abundance of
grain in the earth,
On the top of the mountains;
Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
On the top of the mountains;
Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All nations shall call Him blessed.
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All nations shall call Him blessed.
18 Blessed be the Lord God,
the God of Israel,
Who only does wondrous things!
19 And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
Who only does wondrous things!
19 And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of
Jesse are ended.