1 Kings 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh of Egypt. He married Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to live in the City of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord's Temple, and the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into David’s city until he had finished building his own house, Yahweh’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.
2 In those days, however, the people still sacrificed on the high places because a Temple to honor the Lord hadn't yet been built.
2 However, the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for Yahweh’s name.
3 Solomon showed he loved the Lord by following the instructions of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings on the high places.
3 Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the leading high place. Solomon presented one thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.
4 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 The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon. God said to him, “Ask what you want me to give you.”
5 In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed your servant David, my father, great trustworthy love because he lived his life before you with faithfulness, doing what was right and committed to principle. You have continued to show this great trustworthy love by giving him a son to sit on his throne to this day.
6 Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
7 Now, Lord God, you have made me king in place of my father David. But I am like an inexperienced young boy who doesn't know what to do.
7 Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
8 I, your servant, am here among your chosen people, a great people that are so many they cannot be counted.
8 Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude.
9 So please give me a mind that's receptive so I can rule your people well, understanding the difference between right and wrong, for who can rule this difficult people of yours?”
9 Give your servant therefore 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 Lord considered that what Solomon asked for was good.
10 This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 So God told him, “Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life, or wealth, or the death of your enemies, but instead you asked for understanding to know what is right,
11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,
12 I am giving you what you asked for. I am giving you a mind that is wise, with an understanding of what is right, more than anyone else before you or after you.
12 behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.
13 I am also giving you what you did not ask for, wealth and status—so much so that no king will compare to you for the whole of your life.
13 I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.
14 And if you follow my ways by keeping my laws and my commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
14 If you will 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 woke up and realized he'd had a dream. He went back to Jerusalem, and stood in front of the Ark of the Lord's Agreement and he presented burnt offerings and friendship offerings, and he held a feast for all his officials.
15 Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
16 Later two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him for judgment.
16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.
17 One of the women spoke up, saying, “If it please Your Majesty: I share a house with this woman. I had a baby while she was living in the house.
17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.
18 Three days after the birth of my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were together; there was no one else in the house, just the two of us.
18 The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.
19 During the night this woman's son died because she rolled over on him.
19 This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it.
20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I was sleeping. She lay him close beside her to cuddle him, and she lay her dead son close beside me.
20 She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son I saw that he was dead. When I looked closely at him in the light I realized it wasn't my son.”
21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.”
22 The other woman argued, “No! My son is the one that's alive. Your son is the one that's dead.” The first woman objected, “No! Your son is the one that's dead. My son is the one that's alive.” They went on quarrelling in front of the king.
22 The other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” They argued like this before the king.
23 The king intervened, saying, “So this woman says, ‘My son is the one that's alive. Your son is the one that's dead,’ while the other woman says, ‘No! Your son is the one that's dead. My son is the one that's alive.’”
23 Then the king said, “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 “Bring me a sword,” the king ordered. So they brought him a sword.
24 The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
25 “Cut the child that's alive in two, and give half to one woman and half to another,” he commanded.
25 The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”
26 But the woman whose son was alive had so much love for him as a mother that she cried out to the king, “Please, Your Majesty, give her the boy! Don't kill him!” But the other woman said, “He won't be mine or yours—cut him in two!”
26 Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.”
27 The king gave his verdict. “Give the child that's alive to the first woman,” he ordered. “On no account kill him, for she is his real mother.”
27 Then the king answered, “Give the first woman the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.”
28 When everyone in Israel heard about the verdict the king had delivered, they had great respect for the king, because they recognized the wisdom God had given him to judge rightly.
28 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 justice.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Pharaoh's daughter (wife of Solomon)
The daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt, whom Solomon married to seal an alliance and for whom he built a house.
Cited in the guide: 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 7:8; 1 Kings 9:24
Solomon
David's son who built the temple and became famous for God-given wisdom.
Cited in the guide: 1 Kings 1-11; 1 Chron. 3:5; Matt. 1:6-7
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Kings 9:24; 1 Kings 11:1; 2 Chronicles 8:11; 2 Chronicles 2:1–4; 2 Samuel 5:7
- 2 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chronicles 33:17; Deuteronomy 12:2–5; Leviticus 26:30; Acts 7:47–49
- 3 1 Corinthians 8:3; Psalm 31:23; Deuteronomy 30:16; Deuteronomy 6:5; 1 Kings 3:6
- 4 2 Chronicles 1:3; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 2 Chronicles 7:5; 2 Chronicles 1:6–12; 1 Chronicles 21:29
- 5 1 Kings 9:2; James 1:5–6; Numbers 12:6; 2 Chronicles 1:7–12; John 14:13–14
- 6 1 Kings 9:4; 1 Kings 1:48; 1 Kings 2:4; 2 Corinthians 9:11; 2 Samuel 7:8–12
- 7 1 Chronicles 29:1; Numbers 27:17; Jeremiah 1:6; Matthew 18:3–4; Daniel 4:32
- 8 Genesis 15:5; Genesis 13:16; 1 Chronicles 21:2; Genesis 22:17; 1 Chronicles 27:23–24
- 9 James 1:5; Hebrews 5:14; Proverbs 16:16; John 5:30; Proverbs 2:3–9
- 10 Proverbs 15:8
- 11 1 Kings 3:9; James 4:2–3; Proverbs 16:31; Romans 8:26; Psalm 4:6
- 12 1 John 5:14–15; Ecclesiastes 1:16; Matthew 12:42; 1 Kings 5:12; 1 Kings 10:23–24
- 13 Ephesians 3:20; Matthew 6:33; Proverbs 3:16; Psalm 84:11–12; Romans 8:32
- 14 Proverbs 3:2; Psalm 91:16; 1 Kings 15:5; Zechariah 3:7; 2 Chronicles 34:2
- 15 Genesis 41:7; 1 Kings 8:65; Esther 1:3; Daniel 5:1; 1 Chronicles 16:1–2
- 16 Exodus 18:16; Judges 11:1; Leviticus 19:29; Joshua 2:1; Numbers 27:2
- 20 John 3:20; Matthew 13:25; Job 24:13–17; Psalm 139:11
- 21 Genesis 21:7; 1 Samuel 1:23
- 25 Proverbs 25:8
- 26 Isaiah 49:15; Jeremiah 31:20; 1 John 3:17; Genesis 43:30; Hosea 11:8
- 28 Colossians 2:3; 1 Kings 3:9–12; Daniel 2:47; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Ecclesiastes 7:19
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Do thou also therefore ask nothing worldly, but all things spiritual, and thou wilt surely receive. For so Solomon, because he asked what he ought, behold how quickly he received.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)