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made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the House of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people however were still sacrificing on the high places, because at that time no temple had yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he also offered sacrifices and burnt incense on the high places.
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and God said, “Ask! What would you have Me give you?”
6 And Solomon answered, “You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward You. You have continued this great kindness for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne as it is this very day.
7 “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David. Yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to judge Your people, and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and not for long life or riches for yourself, nor the death of your enemies, but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will have never been anyone before like you, nor will there ever be again. 13 I will also grant you what you have not asked for: both riches and honour, so that you will have no equal among kings all your life. 14 And if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments as your father David did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke, and he realised it had been a dream!
He went to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
16 Now two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One woman said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day my child was born, this woman also gave birth. We were alone, and no one else was with us in the house. Just the two of us were there.
19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up during the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept. She laid him at her breast, and she laid her dead child at my breast. 21 When I got up the next morning to nurse my son, I found he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, I saw that he was not the son I gave birth to.”
22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son, and the dead one is yours.”
The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one, and the living one is my son.” And so they argued before the king.
23 The king said, “This one says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead’, while the other one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive’.”
24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king. 25 The king gave the order: “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son, and she pleaded with the king, “Please my lord, give her the living boy! Please don’t kill him.”
But the other said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
27 Then the king responded, “Give the first woman the living child. Do not kill him, for she is his mother.”
28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they stood in awe of the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to carry out justice.