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.
所羅門求智慧
1所羅門娶了埃及法老的女兒，與法老聯姻。他在自己的王宮、耶和華的殿和耶路撒冷的城牆完工之前，讓她一直住在大衛城。 2那時候，用來尊崇耶和華之名的殿還沒有建成，以色列人仍然在邱壇獻祭。 3所羅門愛耶和華，遵行他父親大衛的律例，只是仍然在邱壇獻祭燒香。
4有一次，所羅門王上基遍獻了一千頭祭牲作燔祭，因為那裡有最重要的邱壇。 5在基遍，耶和華晚上在夢中向所羅門顯現，對他說：「你想要什麼，只管向我求。」
6所羅門說：「你的僕人——我父大衛本著誠實、公義、正直的心在你面前行事，你就向他大施恩慈，並且一如既往地以厚恩待他，讓他兒子今天繼承他的王位。 7我的上帝耶和華啊，你讓僕人繼承我父大衛的王位，但僕人還年幼無知，不懂得如何治理國家。 8僕人住在你所揀選的子民中，這些子民多得不可勝數。 9求你賜我智慧治理你的子民，並能辨別是非；不然，誰能治理你這眾多的子民呢？」 10主喜悅所羅門的祈求， 11對他說：「既然你不為自己求壽、求財富，也不求滅絕仇敵，只求有智慧秉公治理我的子民， 12我必應允你，賜給你空前絕後的智慧和悟性。 13你沒有求富貴和尊榮，但我會一併賜給你，使你有生之年在列王中無人能比。 14你若像你父親大衛一樣遵行我的道，遵守我的律例和誡命，我必使你長壽。」
15所羅門醒來，發現是做了一個夢。他回到耶路撒冷，站在耶和華的約櫃前獻上燔祭和平安祭，又宴請群臣。
智斷死嬰案
16一天，兩個妓女到王面前告狀。 17其中一個說：「我主啊，我跟這女人同住，我生了一個男孩，當時她也在場。 18我生產三天後，她也生了一個男孩。我們住在一起，除了我們二人，屋裡沒有別人。 19一天晚上，她不小心壓死了自己的孩子。 20她半夜起來，趁我熟睡的時候抱走了我身邊的孩子，放在她懷中，把她的死孩子放在我懷中。 21天快亮的時候，我起來給孩子餵奶，發現孩子死了。天亮後，我仔細察看孩子，發現孩子不是我生的。」 22另一個女人說：「不對！活孩子是我的，死孩子是你的。」第一個女人說：「不對！死孩子是你的，活孩子是我的。」兩個女人在王面前爭吵起來。 23王見她們二人都說活孩子是自己的，死孩子是對方的， 24就命人拿刀來。侍從把刀拿來後， 25王下令將那活孩子劈成兩半，讓她們各得一半。 26活孩子的母親心疼自己的孩子，就說：「我主啊，把孩子給她吧，千萬不要殺他！」但另一個女人卻說：「孩子不歸我，也不歸你，把他劈開吧！」
27王說：「不可殺這孩子，把他交給剛才為孩子求情的女人吧！她是孩子的母親。」 28以色列人聽見王這樣斷案，都敬畏他，因為他們知道他有上帝所賜的智慧，能夠秉公斷案。
