Solomon Prays for Wisdom

¹Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. He brought her to live in David's City until he had finished building his palace, the Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

²A temple had not yet been built for the Lord, and so the people were still offering sacrifices at many different altars.

³Solomon loved the Lord and followed the instructions of his father David, but he also slaughtered animals and offered them as sacrifices on various altars.

⁴On one occasion he went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices because that was where the most famous altar was. He had offered hundreds of burnt offerings there in the past.

⁵That night the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him, “What would you like me to give you?”

⁶Solomon answered, “You always showed great love for my father David, your servant, and he was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. And you have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place.

⁷O Lord God, you have let me succeed my father as king, even though I am very young and don't know how to rule.

⁸Here I am among the people you have chosen to be your own, a people who are so many that they cannot be counted.

⁹So give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice and to know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?”

¹⁰The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this,

¹¹and so he said to him, “Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of long life for yourself or riches or the death of your enemies,

¹²I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had before or will ever have again.

¹³I will also give you what you have not asked for: all your life you will have wealth and honor, more than that of any other king.

¹⁴And if you obey me and keep my laws and commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”

¹⁵Solomon woke up and realized that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of the Lord's Covenant Box and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. After that he gave a feast for all his officials.

Solomon Judges a Difficult Case

¹⁶One day two prostitutes came and presented themselves before King Solomon.

¹⁷One of them said, “Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there.

¹⁸Two days after my child was born, she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house—no one else was present.

¹⁹Then one night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it.

²⁰She got up during the night, took my son from my side while I was asleep, and carried him to her bed; then she put the dead child in my bed.

²¹The next morning, when I woke up and was going to nurse my baby, I saw that it was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child.”

²²But the other woman said, “No! The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours!” The first woman answered back, “No! The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine!” And so they argued before the king.

²³Then King Solomon said, “Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one.”

²⁴He sent for a sword, and when it was brought,

²⁵he said, “Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it.”

²⁶The real mother, her heart full of love for her son, said to the king, “Please, Your Majesty, don't kill the child! Give it to her!” But the other woman said, “Don't give it to either of us; go on and cut it in two.”

²⁷Then Solomon said, “Don't kill the child! Give it to the first woman—she is its real mother.”

²⁸When the people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision, they were all filled with deep respect for him, because they knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly.

Equipment for the Temple

¹King Solomon had a bronze altar made, which was 30 feet square and 15 feet high.

²He also made a round tank of bronze, 7½ feet deep, 15 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference.

³All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two rows of decorations, one above the other. The decorations were in the shape of bulls, which had been cast all in one piece with the rest of the tank.

⁴The tank rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward, three facing in each direction.

⁵The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a flower. The tank held about 15,000 gallons.

⁶They also made ten basins, five to be placed on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. They were to be used to rinse the parts of the animals that were burned as sacrifices. The water in the large tank was for the priests to use for washing.

^7-8They made ten gold lampstands according to the usual pattern, and ten tables, and placed them in the main room of the Temple, five lampstands and five tables on each side. They also made a hundred gold bowls.

⁹They made an inner courtyard for the priests, and also an outer courtyard. The doors in the gates between the courtyards were covered with bronze.

¹⁰The tank was placed near the southeast corner of the Temple.

^11-16Huram also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all the objects that he had promised King Solomon he would make for the Temple: The two columns The two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the columns The design of interwoven chains on each capital The 400 bronze pomegranates arranged in two rows around the design of each capital The ten carts The ten basins The tank The twelve bulls supporting the tank The pots, shovels, and forks Huram the master metalworker made all these objects out of polished bronze, as King Solomon had commanded, for use in the Temple of the Lord.

¹⁷The king had them all made in the foundry between Sukkoth and Zeredah in the Jordan Valley.

¹⁸So many objects were made that no one determined the total weight of the bronze used.

¹⁹King Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar and the tables for the bread offered to God;

²⁰the lampstands and the lamps of fine gold that were to burn in front of the Most Holy Place, according to plan;

²¹the flower decorations, the lamps, and the tongs;

²²the lamp snuffers, the bowls, the dishes for incense, and the pans used for carrying live coals. All these objects were made of pure gold. The outer doors of the Temple and the doors to the Most Holy Place were overlaid with gold.

¹When King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he placed in the Temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to the Lord—the silver, gold, and other articles.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple

²Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to assemble in Jerusalem, in order to take the Lord's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City, to the Temple.

³They all assembled at the time of the Festival of Shelters.

⁴When all the leaders had gathered, then the Levites lifted the Covenant Box

⁵and carried it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites also moved the Tent of the Lord's presence and all its equipment to the Temple.

⁶King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count.

⁷Then the priests carried the Covenant Box of the Lord into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures.

⁸Their outstretched wings covered the Box and the poles it was carried by.

⁹The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.)

¹⁰There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.

The Glory of the Lord

^11-14All the priests present, regardless of the group to which they belonged, had consecrated themselves. And all the Levite musicians—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and the members of their clans—were wearing linen clothing. The Levites stood near the east side of the altar with cymbals and harps, and with them were 120 priests playing trumpets. The singers were accompanied in perfect harmony by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, as they praised the Lord singing: “Praise the Lord, because he is good, And his love is eternal.” As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence, and they could not continue the service of worship.

A Prayer for Protection

¹I am in trouble, God—listen to my prayer! I am afraid of my enemies—save my life!

²Protect me from the plots of the wicked, from mobs of evil people.

³They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like arrows.

⁴They are quick to spread their shameless lies; they destroy good people with cowardly slander.

⁵They encourage each other in their evil plots; they talk about where they will place their traps. “No one can see them,” they say.

⁶They make evil plans and say, “We have planned a perfect crime.” The human heart and mind are a mystery.

⁷But God shoots his arrows at them, and suddenly they are wounded.

⁸He will destroy them because of those words; all who see them will shake their heads.

⁹They will all be afraid; they will think about what God has done and tell about his deeds.

¹⁰All righteous people will rejoice because of what the Lord has done. They will find safety in him; all good people will praise him.