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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Kings 3 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Solomon Asks for Wisdom

(2Ch 1:2–13 )

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:1 - Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:2 - The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:3 - Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:4 - The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:5 - At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:6 - Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:7 - “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:8 - Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:9 - So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:10 - The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:11 - So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:12 - I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:13 - Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:14 - And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:15 - Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.

A Wise Ruling

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:16 - Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:17 - One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:18 - The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:19 - “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:20 - So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:21 - The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:22 - The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:23 - The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:24

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:24 - Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:25

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:25 - He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:26 - The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:27

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:27 - Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:28

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:28 - When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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1 Kings Chapter 3 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras