1 Kings 3

¹And Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the City of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

²Only the people were sacrificing at the high places, for no house had been built for the name of the LORD until those days.

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

⁴And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar.

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

⁶And Solomon said: 'You have done with your servant David my father great kindness, just as he walked before you in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you; and you kept for him this great kindness, and gave him a son sitting upon his throne as on this day.'

⁷And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father; and I am but a young lad who does not know how to go out or come in.

⁸And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people that cannot be counted or numbered because of their abundance.

⁹Give to your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?

¹⁰And the thing pleased the Lord, for Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹And God said to him, 'Because you have asked for this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, and have not asked for riches for yourself, and have not asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice —'

¹²Behold, I have done according to your words; behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, such that none like you has been before you, and none like you will arise after you.

¹³And also what you did not ask I have given you, both riches and honor, such that no man like you has been among the kings all your days.

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

¹⁵And 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.

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

¹⁷And the one woman said, 'Please, my lord, I and this woman were living in one house, and I gave birth with her in the house.'

¹⁸And on the third day after my delivery, this woman also gave birth; and we were together — there was no stranger with us in the house, only we two were in the house.

¹⁹And the son of this woman died in the night, because she lay upon him.

²⁰And she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me, while your maidservant was sleeping, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.

²¹And I arose in the morning to nurse my son, and behold, he was dead; and I looked carefully at him in the morning, and behold, it was not my son whom I had borne.

²²And the other woman said, 'No, but my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.' And this one said, 'No, but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.' And they spoke before the king.

²³And 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.'

²⁴And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought the sword before the king.

²⁵And the king said, 'Cut the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other.'

²⁶And the woman whose son was the living one said to the king — for her womb yearned for her son — and she said, 'Please, my lord, give her the living child, and do not put him to death.' But the other said, 'Neither mine nor yours shall he be; divide him!'

²⁷And the king answered and said, 'Give her the living child; do not kill him. She is his mother.'

²⁸And all Israel heard the judgment that the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was within him to render justice.