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1 Kings 3 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Solomon Requests Wisdom
Solomon Prays for Wisdom
(2 Chr. 1:2–13 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:1 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:2 - Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:3 - And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:4 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:5 - At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:6 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:7 - “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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:8 - “And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:9 - “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?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:10 - The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:11 - 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,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:12 - “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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:13 - “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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:14 - “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.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:15 - 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
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:16 - Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:17 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:18 - “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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:19 - “And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:20 - “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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:21 - “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.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:22 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:23 - 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.’ ”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:24 - Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:25 - And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:26 - 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:27 - So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:28 - 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.
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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