1 Kings 3
He Asked for a Listening Heart
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Sacrifice at the High Places
3:2The people, however, were burning incense at the high places, because no house had yet been built for the Lord’s name.
3:3Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the ordinances of his father David; however, he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
The Dream at Gibeon
3:4He rose and went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the highest and great. Solomon offered a thousand whole burnt offerings on the altar at Gibeon.
3:5The Lord appeared to Solomon in sleep at night. The Lord said to Solomon, “Ask a request for yourself.”
3:6Solomon said, “You showed great mercy to Your servant David my father, as he walked before You in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with You. You kept this great mercy for him, placing his son on his throne, as it is today.
3:7Now, Lord my God, You have placed Your servant in place of my father David. I am a little child and do not know my going out or my coming in.
3:8Your servant is among Your people whom You chose, a numerous people who cannot be numbered.
3:9Give Your servant a heart to hear and judge Your people in righteousness, understanding between good and evil; for who can judge this weighty people of Yours?”
3:10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
3:11The Lord said to him, “Because you have asked this of Me and have not asked for many days for yourself, or wealth, or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for understanding to hear judgment,
3:12look, I have done according to your word. Look, I have given you a discerning and wise heart, so that no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.
3:13I have also given you what you did not ask: both wealth and glory, so that no man like you has been among the kings.
3:14If you walk in My way, keeping My commandments and ordinances as your father David walked, I will multiply your days.”
3:15Solomon awoke: it was a dream. He rose and came to Jerusalem, and stood before the altar that was before the ark of the Lord’s covenant in Zion. He offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a great feast for himself and all his attendants.
The Judgment Between the Two Women
3:16Then two women who were prostitutes appeared before the king and stood before him.
3:17One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and we gave birth in the house.
3:18On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together, with no one in the house except the two of us.
3:19This woman’s son died during the night when she lay on him.
3:20She rose in the middle of the night and took my son from my arms. She laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.
3:21I rose in the morning to nurse my son, and that child was dead. I looked carefully at him in the morning, and he was not my son whom I had borne.”
3:22The other woman said, “No! My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.” Thus they spoke before the king.
3:23The king said to them, “You say, ‘This is my son, the living one, and her son is the dead one.’ And you say, ‘No! My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.’”
3:24The king said, “Bring me a sword.” They brought the sword before the king.
3:25The king said, “Divide the living nursing child in two. Give half of it to this woman and half of it to this woman.”
3:26The woman whose son was alive answered the king, for her womb was stirred for her son. She said, “Please, my lord, give her the child! You must not put him to death!” But the other said, “He shall belong to neither me nor her. Divide him.”
3:27The king answered, “Give the child to the woman who said, ‘Give it to her,’ and you must not put him to death. She is his mother.”
3:28All Israel heard this judgment the king had given, and they feared the king, for they saw that God’s discernment was within him to carry out justice.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.