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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Kings 3 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_kings/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_kings/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > 1 Kings 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/2.htm" title="1 Kings 2">◄</a> 1 Kings 3 <a href="../1_kings/4.htm" title="1 Kings 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/1_kings/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He 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 <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> and the wall around Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Solomon loved the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>At Gibeon the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>And now, O <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.</p> <p class="heading">Solomon’s Wisdom</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/3-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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