1 Kings 2:36-5:18

1 Kings 2:36-5:18   NASB

36 Now the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place. 37 For on the day you leave and cross the [a]brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; your blood will be [b]on your own head.” 38 Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And others told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40 Then Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42 So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I [c]imposed on you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “You yourself know all the evil that [d]you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.” 46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and [e]struck him so that he died.

And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

Chapter 3
1 Now Solomon [f]formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in [g]truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have [h]reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am like a little boy; I do not know how to [i]go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant [j]an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this [k]great people of Yours?”

10 Now [l]it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself [m]a long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 And if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”

15 Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.

16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Pardon me, my lord: [n]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child [o]while she was in the house. 18 And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 19 Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne!” 22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But [p]the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” So they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, “[q]The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and [r]the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for [s]she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, “Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other woman was saying, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!” 27 Then the king replied, “Give [t]the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard about the judgment which the king had [u]handed down, they feared the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to [v]administer justice.

Chapter 4
1 Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary; 4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s confidant; 6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor.

7 Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each deputy had to provide food for a month in the year. 8 And these were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker in Makaz and Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh was his and all the land of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab in all [w]the hills of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); 16 Baana the son of Hushai in Asher and [x]Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issachar; 18 Shimei the son of Ela in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only deputy who was in the land.

20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the [y]seashore in abundance; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

21 [z]Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s [aa]provision for one day was [ab]thirty kors of fine flour and [ac]sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty [ad]pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened geese. 24 For he was ruling over everything [ae]west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings [af]west of the River; and he had peace on all sides surrounding him. 25 So Judah and Israel lived securely, everyone under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 Solomon had [ag]forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those deputies provided food for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they allowed nothing to be lacking. 28 They also brought barley and straw for the war horses and baggage horses to the place where it was required, each deputy according to his duty.

29 Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of [ah]mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the [ai]people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all other people, more than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and [aj]Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his [ak]fame was known in all the surrounding nations. 32 He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 33 He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. 34 People came from all the [al]nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Chapter 5
1 [am]Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had [an]always been a friend of David. 2 Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, 3 “You know that David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has secured me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor [ao]misfortune. 5 So behold, I [ap]intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’ 6 Now then, issue orders that they cut cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants in accordance with all that you say, for you yourself know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he greatly rejoiced; and he said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you sent me; I will do everything you wish concerning the cedar and juniper timber. 9 My servants will bring the timbers down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will have them made into rafts to go by sea to the place where you [aq]direct me, and I will have them broken up there, and you will carry them away. Then you shall do what I wish, by giving food to my household.” 10 So [ar]Hiram [as]gave Solomon all that he wished of the cedar and juniper timber. 11 Solomon then gave [at]Hiram [au]twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and [av]twenty kors of pure oil; this is what Solomon would give Hiram year by year. 12 And the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He [aw]promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.

13 Now King Solomon [ax]conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men. 14 Then he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they were in Lebanon for a month, and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced laborers. 15 Now Solomon had seventy thousand porters, and eighty thousand stonemasons in the mountains, 16 besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were in charge of the [ay]project and ruled over the people who were doing the work. 17 Then the king issued orders, and they quarried large stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and [az]Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites [ba]cut the stones, and they prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.