# 1 Kings 3

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-kings/3

Translated from Hebrew and Greek with AI, then checked for clarity and fidelity.

1. Solomon allied by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt, took his daughter, and brought her to David's city until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the wall around Jerusalem.
2. Only the people sacrificed on the high places, because no house had been built for the name of Yahweh until those days.
3. Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
4. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifice there, for it was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
5. At Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream one night, and God said, "Ask what I will give you."
6. Solomon said, "You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with you; you have preserved this great mercy for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as today."
7. And now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, while I am only a young lad; I do not know how to go out and come in.
8. Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people too numerous to number or count.
9. Give your servant a hearing heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil, for who can judge this great people of yours?
10. The thing pleased the Lord because Solomon had asked this thing.
11. God said to him, "Because you asked this thing and did not ask a long life for yourself, nor riches for yourself, nor the life of your enemies, but asked for yourself discernment to hear justice."
12. See, I have acted on your words. See, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that no one like you has appeared before you, nor will anyone like you arise after you.
13. I have also given you what you did not ask, both riches and honor, so that no one among the kings will be like you all your days.
14. And if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.
15. Solomon awoke, and behold, a dream. He came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant, offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and prepared a banquet for all his servants.
16. Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
17. One woman said, "Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I gave birth with her in the house.
18. On the third day after I gave birth, this woman gave birth too. We were together, with no stranger among us in the house—only the two of us in the house.
19. This woman's son died during the night as she lay on him.
20. She arose in the middle of the night, took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.
21. I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there it was—dead; but when I examined it in the morning, there it was not my son, the one I had borne.
22. The other woman said, “No, my son is the living one and your son the dead one.” This one said, “No, your son is the dead one and my son the living one.” They spoke before the king.
23. The king said, "This one says, 'This is my living son and your dead son,' and this one says, 'No; but your dead son and my living son.'"
24. The king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king.
25. The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other."
26. The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king, for her compassion yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living newborn and the dead one to me; do not kill it." But this one said, "Let it belong to neither me nor you—divide it."
27. The king answered and said, “Give her the living child, and do not kill it at all. She is its mother.”
28. All Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, and they revered the king, for they perceived that God's wisdom was within him to execute justice.

## Nearby chapters

[1 Kings 2](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-kings/2.md)
[1 Kings 4](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-kings/4.md)

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