1 Kings 3 NLT ISV Parallel

◄ 1 Kings 3 ►

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1Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the LORD and the wall around the city.

1Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the LORD's Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the LORD had not yet been built.

2The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD.

3Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.

3Solomon loved the LORD, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places.

4The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.

4The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.

5That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

5The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, "Ask me for whatever you want and I'll give it to you."

6Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

6So Solomon said: "You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today.

7“Now, O LORD my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.

7Now, LORD my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I'm still young. I don't have any leadership skills.

8And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!

8Your servant lives in the midst of your people that you have chosen, a great people that is too numerous to be counted.

9Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

9So give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, so I can discern between good and evil. Otherwise, how will I be able to govern this great people of yours?"

10The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.

10The LORD was pleased that Solomon had asked for this,

11So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—

11so God told him: "Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn't ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you've asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern,

12I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!

12look how I'm going to do precisely what you asked. I'm giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you.

13And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!

13I'm also giving you what you haven't requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime.

14And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

14If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life."

15Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet. Solomon Judges Wisely

15Then Solomon woke up and realized that he had dreamed a dream. Then he went back to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the LORD's covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and threw a party for all of his servants.

16Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.

16Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him.

17“Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house.

17One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.

18Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.

18Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us.

19“But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it.

19This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him.

20Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her.

20She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me.

21And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”

21The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!"

22Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.” “No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

22"Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king.

23Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other.

23The king said, "One of them claims, 'This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims 'No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.'

24All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.

24"Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king.

25Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”

25"Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other."

26Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”

26The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us."

27Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!”

27The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother."

28When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.

28When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.

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