1 Kings 3, 2 Chronicles 1, Revelation 9 - 10, Ecclesiastes 12

Solomon’s Marriage and Sacrifices

3Then ^aSolomon ¹formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter ^band brought her to the city of David ^cuntil he had completed building his own house and the house of Yahweh and ^dthe wall around Jerusalem. ²^aThe people were still sacrificing on the high places because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

³And ^aSolomon loved Yahweh, ^bwalking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁴^aAnd the king went to ^bGibeon to sacrifice there, ^cfor that was the great high place; Solomon offered one thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵^aIn Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon ^bin a dream at night; and God said, “^cAsk what I should give to you.”

God Gives Wisdom to Solomon

⁶Then Solomon said, “^aYou have shown great lovingkindness to Your slave David my father, ^baccording to how he walked before You in ¹truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and ^cYou have kept for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷“So now, O Yahweh my God, ^aYou have made Your slave king in place of my father David, yet ^bI am but a little child; ^cI do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸“^aAnd Your slave is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, ^ba numerous people who are too many to be numbered or counted. ⁹“So ^agive Your slave a listening heart to judge Your people ^bto discern between good and evil. For who is able to ¹judge this glorious people of Yours?”

¹⁰¹And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have ^anot asked for yourself ¹long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to listen to justice, ¹²behold, ^aI have done according to your words. Behold, ^bI 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“^aI have also given you what you have not asked, both ^briches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. ¹⁴“^aNow if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will ^bprolong your days.”

¹⁵Then ^aSolomon 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 ^bmade a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Wisely Judges

¹⁶Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷And the one woman said, “Oh, my lord, ¹this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child 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“And this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. ²⁰“So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹“When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” ²²Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But ¹the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³Then the king said, “¹The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and ²the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵Then the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶Then the woman whose son was the living one spoke to the king, for ¹^,^ashe was deeply stirred with compassion over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” ²⁷Then the king said, “Give ¹the first woman the living child, and by no means put him to death. She is his mother.” ²⁸Then all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had ¹handed down, and they feared the king, for ^athey saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

Solomon Goes Before Yahweh

1Now ^aSolomon the son of David strengthened himself over his kingdom, and ¹Yahweh his God was with him and highly ^bexalted him.

²And Solomon spoke to all Israel, ^ato the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households. ³Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to ^athe high place which was at Gibeon, ^bfor God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness. ⁴However, David had brought up ^athe ark of God from Kiriath-jearim ¹to ^bthe place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ⁵Now ^athe bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, ¹was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out. ⁶And Solomon went up there before Yahweh to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and ^aoffered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

⁷^aIn that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I should give to you.”

God Gives Wisdom to Solomon

⁸Then Solomon said to God, “You have shown great lovingkindness to my father David, and ^ahave made me king in his place. ⁹“Now, O Yahweh God, ^alet Your ¹promise to my father David ²endure, for You have made me king over ^ba people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰“^aGive me now wisdom and knowledge, ^bthat I may go out and come in before this people, for who can do justice for this great people of Yours?” ¹¹^aAnd God said to Solomon, “Because ¹you had this in your heart, and did not ask for riches, wealth, or glory, or the life of those who hate you, nor have you even asked for long life, but you have asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may do justice for My people over whom I have made you king, ¹²wisdom and knowledge have been given to you. And ^aI will give you riches and wealth and glory, ¹such as none of the kings who were before you had nor those who will ²come after you.” ¹³^aSo Solomon went ¹from the high place which was at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel.

Solomon’s Chariots and Horsemen

¹⁴^aAnd Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. ^bAnd he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in ^cthe chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ¹⁵^aThe king also made ^bsilver and gold as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ¹Shephelah. ¹⁶Solomon’s import of ^ahorses was from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price. ¹⁷And they ¹imported a chariot from Egypt for ²600 shekels of silver and a horse for ³150; and ⁴by the same means they ⁵exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Footnotes

1:11 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15
1:41 Lit where David had prepared for it
1:51 Lit he put
1:91 Lit word
1:92 Or be true
1:111 Lit this was in your heart
1:121 Lit which was not so to the kings who were before you
1:122 Lit be
1:131 Lit to
1:151 Or lowland
1:171 Lit brought up and brought out
1:172 Approx. 15 lb. or 6.6 kg
1:173 Approx. 3.7 lb. or 1.6 kg
1:174 Lit and in like manner by their hand
1:175 Lit brought out

Cross references

9Then the ^afifth angel sounded. Then I saw a ^bstar from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the ^ckey of the ^dpit of the abyss was given to him. ²And he opened the pit of the abyss and ^asmoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and ^bthe sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. ³Then out of the smoke came ^alocusts ¹upon the earth, and power was given them, as the ^bscorpions of the earth have power. ⁴And they were told not to ^ahurt the ^bgrass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the ^cseal of God on their foreheads. ⁵And ¹they were not permitted to kill ²anyone, but to torment for ^afive months, and their torment was like the torment of a ^bscorpion when it ³stings a man. ⁶And in those days ^amen will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

⁷And the ¹^,^aappearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. ⁸And they had hair like the hair of women, and their ^ateeth were like the teeth of lions. ⁹And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the ^asound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle. ¹⁰And they have tails like ^ascorpions, and stings; and in their ^btails is their power to hurt men for ^cfive months. ¹¹They have as king over them, the angel of the ^aabyss. His name in ^bHebrew is ¹^,^cAbaddon, and in the Greek he has the name ²Apollyon.

¹²^aOne woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.

¹³Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard ¹a voice from the ²four ^ahorns of the ^bgolden altar which is before God, ¹⁴one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the ^afour angels who have been bound at the ^bgreat river Euphrates.” ¹⁵And the four angels were ^areleased, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, so that they would kill a ^bthird of ¹mankind. ¹⁶And the number of the armies of the horsemen was ^atwo hundred million; ^bI heard the number of them. ¹⁷And ¹this is how I saw ^ain the vision the horses and those who sit on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of ²^,^bbrimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and ^cout of their mouths come fire and smoke and ³^,^dbrimstone. ¹⁸A ^athird of ¹mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the ^bfire and the smoke and the ²brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.

²⁰And the rest of ¹mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^adid not repent of ^bthe works of their hands, so as not to ^cworship demons, and ^dthe idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹And they ^adid not repent of their murders nor of their ^bsorceries nor of their ^csexual immorality nor of their thefts.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10Then I saw another ^astrong angel ^bcoming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the ^crainbow was upon his head, and ^dhis face was like the sun, and his ^efeet like pillars of fire; ²and he had in his hand a ^alittle scroll which was open. He placed ^bhis right foot on the sea and his left on the earth, ³and he cried out with a loud voice, ^aas when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the ^bseven peals of thunder ¹uttered their voices. ⁴And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, ^aI was about to write; and I ^bheard a voice from heaven saying, “^cSeal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.” ⁵Then the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth, ^alifted up his right hand to heaven, ⁶^aand swore by ^bHim who lives forever and ever, ^cwho created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that ^dthere will be delay no longer, ⁷but in the days of the voice of the ^aseventh angel, when he is about to sound, then ^bthe mystery of God is finished, as He proclaimed good news to His slaves, the prophets.

⁸Then ^athe voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take ^bthe scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who ^cstands on the sea and on the earth.” ⁹So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. And he *said to me, “^aTake it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰And I took the little scroll out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹And ^athey *said to me, “You must ^bprophesy again about ^cmany peoples and nations and tongues and ^dkings.”

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12^aRemember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the ^bevil days happen and the years draw near in which you will say, “I have no delight in them”; ²before the ^asun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; ³in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and valiant men ^abend down, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and ^bthose who look through ¹windows grow dark; ⁴and the doors on the street are shut as the ^asound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the ^bdaughters of song will ¹sing softly. ⁵Furthermore, ¹men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blooms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal ^ahome, but the ^bmourners go about in the street. ⁶Remember Him before the silver ¹cord is ²snapped and the ^agolden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is broken and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; ⁷then the ^adust will return to the earth as it was, and the ¹^,^bspirit will return to ^cGod who gave it. ⁸“^aVanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

⁹In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and ¹arranged ^amany proverbs. ¹⁰The Preacher sought to find ^adelightful words and ^bwords of truth written uprightly.

¹¹The ^awords of wise men are like ^bgoads, and masters of these collections are like ¹well-driven ^cnails; they are given by one Shepherd. ¹²But in addition to this, my son, be warned: the making of ^amany books is endless, and much ^bdevotion to books is wearying to the flesh.

¹³The end of the matter, all that has been heard: ^afear God and ^bkeep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for ^call mankind. ¹⁴For ^aGod will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.