1Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter as his wife and brought her into the city of David. She stayed there until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem.
2But the people still sacrificed at the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.
3Solomon loved the LORD, and he walked in the statutes of his father David. But he still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask what I should give you."
6Solomon said, "You showed great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and with an upright heart toward you. You have kept this great kindness for him, and have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today."
7"And now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David. But I am only a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in."
8"Your servant is among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted."
9"So give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, so that I can tell the difference between good and bad. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?"
10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this.
11God said to him, "Because you have asked for this, and have not asked for a long life for yourself, or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but have asked for understanding to know what is right when you judge,"
12"look, I have done what you said. I have given you a wise and understanding heart. There has been no one like you before you, and no one like you will rise up after you."
13"I have also given you what you did not ask for: both riches and honour. There will be no king like you all your days."
14"And if you will walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will make your days long."
15Then Solomon woke up, and it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. He offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
17One woman said, "My lord, this woman and I live in one house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house."
18"On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together. No one else was with us in the house; there were only the two of us."
19"This woman's child died in the night, because she lay on top of it."
20"She got up at midnight and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead child at my breast."
21"When I got up in the morning to nurse my child, look, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, look, he was not my son, the one I had borne."
22The other woman said, "No. The living one is my son, and the dead one is your son." And the first said, "No. The dead one is your son, and the living one is my son." So they spoke before the king.
23Then the king said, "One says, 'This is my son who is alive, and your son is the dead one.' And the other says, 'No. Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"
24The king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king.
25The king said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other."
26Then the woman whose son was the living child spoke to the king, for her heart ached for her son. She said, "My lord, give her the living child. Do not kill him at all." But the other said, "Let him be neither mine nor yours. Divide him."
27Then the king answered and said, "Give her the living child, and do not kill him at all. She is his mother."
28All Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, and they feared the king. For they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.