1   Solomon allied himself to Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. 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 round Jerusalem. 2   The people however continued to sacrifice at the hill-shrines, for till then no house had been built in honour of the name of the Lord. 3   Solomon himself loved the Lord, conforming to the precepts laid down by his father David; but he too slaughtered and burnt sacrifices at the hill-shrines.

4   Now King Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice, for that was the chief hill-shrine, and he used to offer a thousand whole-offerings on its altar. 5    ^noteThere that night the Lord God appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘What shall I give you? Tell me.’ 6   And Solomon answered, ‘Thou didst show great and constant love to thy servant David my father, because he walked before thee in loyalty, righteousness, and integrity of heart; and thou hast maintained this great and constant love towards him and hast now given him a son to succeed him on the throne. 7   Now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of my father David, though I am a mere child, unskilled in leadership. 8   And I am here in the midst of thy people, the people of thy choice, too many to be numbered or counted. 9   Give thy servant, therefore, a heart with skill to listen, so that he may govern thy people

The reign of Solomon justly and distinguish good from evil. For who is equal to the task of governing this great people of thine?’ 10   The Lord was well pleased that Solomon had asked for this, 11   and he said to him, ‘Because you have asked for this, and not for long life for yourself, or for wealth, or for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for discernment in administering justice, I grant your request; 12   I give you a heart so wise and so understanding that there has been none like you before your time nor will be after you. 13   I give you furthermore those things for which you did not ask, such wealth and honour ^note as no king of your time can match. 14   And if you conform to my ways and observe my ordinances and commandments, as your father David did, I will give you long life.’ 15   Then he awoke, and knew it was a dream.

Solomon came to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord; there he sacrificed whole-offerings and brought shared-offerings, and gave a feast to all his household.

16   Then there came into the king's presence two women who were prostitutes and stood before him. 17   The first said, ‘My lord, this woman and I share the same house, and I gave birth to a child when she was there with me. 18   On the third day after my baby was born she too gave birth to a child. We were quite alone; no one else was with us in the house; only the two of us were there. 19   During the night this woman's child died because she overlaid it, 20   and she got up in the middle of the night, took my baby from my side while I, your servant, was asleep, and laid it in her bosom, putting her dead child in mine. 21   When I got up in the morning to feed my baby, I found him dead; but when I looked at him closely, I found that it was not the child that I had borne.’ 22   The other woman broke in, ‘No; the living child is mine; yours is the dead one’, while the first retorted, ‘No; the dead child is yours; mine is the living one.’ So they went on arguing in the king's presence. 23   The king thought to himself, ‘One of them says, “This is my child, the living one; yours is the dead one.” The other says, “No; it is your child that is dead and mine that is alive.”’ 24   Then he said, ‘Fetch me a sword.’ 25   They brought in a sword and the king gave the order: ‘Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.’ 26   At this the woman who was the mother of the living child, moved with love for her child, said to the king, ‘Oh! sir, let her have the baby; whatever you do, do not kill it.’ The other said, ‘Let neither of us have it; cut it in two.’ 27   Thereupon the king gave judgement: ‘Give the living baby to the first woman; do not kill it. She is its mother.’ 28   When Israel heard the judgement which the king had given, they all stood in awe of him; for they saw that he had the wisdom of God within him to administer justice.

The reign of Solomon

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