Solomon Asks for Wisdom
1Solomon 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. 2The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3Solomon 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.
4The 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. 5At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6Solomon 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.
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. 8Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9So 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?”
10The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11So 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, 12I 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. 13Moreover, 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. 14And 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.” 15Then 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
16Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17One 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. 18The 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.
19“During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20So 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. 21The 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.”
22The 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.
23The 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.’ ”
24Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26The 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!”
27Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28When 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.
所罗门求智慧
1所罗门娶了埃及法老的女儿，与法老联姻。他在自己的王宫、耶和华的殿和耶路撒冷的城墙完工之前，让她一直住在大卫城。 2那时候，用来尊崇耶和华之名的殿还没有建成，以色列人仍然在丘坛献祭。 3所罗门爱耶和华，遵行他父亲大卫的律例，只是仍然在丘坛献祭烧香。
4有一次，所罗门王上基遍献了一千头祭牲作燔祭，因为那里有最重要的丘坛。 5在基遍，耶和华晚上在梦中向所罗门显现，对他说：“你想要什么，只管向我求。”
6所罗门说：“你的仆人——我父大卫本着诚实、公义、正直的心在你面前行事，你就向他大施恩慈，并且一如既往地以厚恩待他，让他儿子今天继承他的王位。 7我的上帝耶和华啊，你让仆人继承我父大卫的王位，但仆人还年幼无知，不懂得如何治理国家。 8仆人住在你所拣选的子民中，这些子民多得不可胜数。 9求你赐我智慧治理你的子民，并能辨别是非；不然，谁能治理你这众多的子民呢？” 10主喜悦所罗门的祈求， 11对他说：“既然你不为自己求寿、求财富，也不求灭绝仇敌，只求有智慧秉公治理我的子民， 12我必应允你，赐给你空前绝后的智慧和悟性。 13你没有求富贵和尊荣，但我会一并赐给你，使你有生之年在列王中无人能比。 14你若像你父亲大卫一样遵行我的道，遵守我的律例和诫命，我必使你长寿。”
15所罗门醒来，发现是做了一个梦。他回到耶路撒冷，站在耶和华的约柜前献上燔祭和平安祭，又宴请群臣。
智断死婴案
16一天，两个妓女到王面前告状。 17其中一个说：“我主啊，我跟这女人同住，我生了一个男孩，当时她也在场。 18我生产三天后，她也生了一个男孩。我们住在一起，除了我们二人，屋里没有别人。 19一天晚上，她不小心压死了自己的孩子。 20她半夜起来，趁我熟睡的时候抱走了我身边的孩子，放在她怀中，把她的死孩子放在我怀中。 21天快亮的时候，我起来给孩子喂奶，发现孩子死了。天亮后，我仔细察看孩子，发现孩子不是我生的。” 22另一个女人说：“不对！活孩子是我的，死孩子是你的。”第一个女人说：“不对！死孩子是你的，活孩子是我的。”两个女人在王面前争吵起来。 23王见她们二人都说活孩子是自己的，死孩子是对方的， 24就命人拿刀来。侍从把刀拿来后， 25王下令将那活孩子劈成两半，让她们各得一半。 26活孩子的母亲心疼自己的孩子，就说：“我主啊，把孩子给她吧，千万不要杀他！”但另一个女人却说：“孩子不归我，也不归你，把他劈开吧！”
27王说：“不可杀这孩子，把他交给刚才为孩子求情的女人吧！她是孩子的母亲。” 28以色列人听见王这样断案，都敬畏他，因为他们知道他有上帝所赐的智慧，能够秉公断案。
