1 Kings 3

KJV · Chapter 3/22

¹And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

²Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days.

³And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

⁴And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

⁶And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

⁷And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

⁸And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

⁹Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

¹⁰And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

¹²Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

¹³And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

¹⁴And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

¹⁵And 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 up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

¹⁶Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.

¹⁷And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

¹⁸And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.

¹⁹And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.

²⁰And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.

²²And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.

²³Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.

²⁴And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

²⁵And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

²⁶Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

²⁷Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Solomon, in a dream at Gibeon, asks God for wisdom to govern rather than wealth or power, and God grants him both wisdom and riches. He then demonstrates this wisdom by judging the case of the two mothers disputing a baby.

Explanation

This is the defining portrait of Solomon's reign: his fame for wisdom is born from a conscious choice to prioritize discernment over personal gain. The judgment of the two women became a universal symbol of wise justice — Solomon had no way of knowing who was lying, but he recognized that true motherly love would reveal itself through willingness to give up the child to save her. The practical lesson is that genuine wisdom often comes from understanding human nature and people's hearts, not just from rules and laws.

Fun facts

Gibeon, where Solomon had the dream, was still a 'high place' for sacrifice before the temple was built, a practice tolerated during this transitional period even among kings faithful to God.
The phrase 'understanding heart,' used in Solomon's request, is literally 'a hearing heart' in Hebrew — suggesting that biblical wisdom is tied to the ability to listen well before judging.

Verse-by-verse explanation

1 Kings 3:1Solomon seals a political alliance by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter, king of Egypt, and brings her to Jerusalem while he is still finishing his palace, the Temple, and the city wall.
1 Kings 3:2The high places were local shrines, built on hills and elevated spots, used for sacrifice before the Temple existed — at this point they were still tolerated, even by kings considered good. Later, once the Temple is finished, continuing to use the high places starts being counted as a failing, even for the most praised kings.
1 Kings 3:3Solomon loved God and followed in David’s footsteps, but the text notes a qualification: he still offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places — because the Temple did not exist yet.
1 Kings 3:4A thousand animals sacrificed in a single session is a figure meant for display, the kind ancient Near Eastern kings used to show off power and devotion at the same time. It is not necessarily an exact count, but a way of saying that Solomon began his reign in grand style.
1 Kings 3:5At Gibeon, God appears to Solomon at night in a dream, and makes an open offer: “Ask what I shall give thee.”
1 Kings 3:6Solomon begins by giving thanks: God was kind to David because he walked in faithfulness and righteousness, and because of that gave him a son to sit on the throne, which is happening right now.
1 Kings 3:7Solomon describes himself as a child who still does not know how “to go out or come in” — a humble way of saying he feels unprepared to govern.
1 Kings 3:8Solomon notes that he is in the midst of an enormous people, chosen by God, too many even to count.
1 Kings 3:9Solomon’s request is not for intelligence in general, but for discernment to judge — the most concrete and most demanded function of an ancient king was settling disputes between his subjects. That is exactly what the story of the two mothers, right after this, puts to the test.
1 Kings 3:10God is pleased with Solomon’s request — not riches, not vengeance, but wisdom to judge well.
1 Kings 3:11God acknowledges what Solomon did NOT ask for: not long life, not riches, not the death of his enemies — only understanding to do justice.
1 Kings 3:12God grants exactly what was asked: He gives Solomon a heart so wise and understanding that no one before or after him will ever equal it.
1 Kings 3:13Besides the wisdom he asked for, God adds wealth and honor as a bonus, promising that no king will ever compare to Solomon as long as he lives.
1 Kings 3:14The promise comes with a condition: if Solomon walks in God’s ways as David did, he too will have a long life.
1 Kings 3:15Solomon wakes up and realizes it was a dream; he returns to Jerusalem, stands before the ark, offers sacrifices, and holds a feast for all his servants.
1 Kings 3:16Two women, prostitutes, come before the king with a dispute to settle — the setting for Solomon’s most famous judgment.
1 Kings 3:17One of them explains: they live in the same house, and she gave birth while living there with the other woman.
1 Kings 3:18Three days later the other woman also had a baby; they were alone in the house, with no one else present.
1 Kings 3:19The other woman’s son died in the night because she lay on top of him by accident.
1 Kings 3:20She got up in the middle of the night, swapped the dead child for the other woman’s living child while the mother slept — and kept the living one for herself.
1 Kings 3:21In the morning, when she went to nurse him, the first woman found the child dead; but looking closely in the light of day, she saw that it was not the son she had given birth to.
1 Kings 3:22The other woman denies everything: she says the living one is her son and the dead one is the other’s — and the two argue in front of the king without reaching an agreement.
1 Kings 3:23The king sums up the dispute: one says the living child is hers and the dead one is the other’s; the other swears the opposite.
1 Kings 3:24Solomon asks for a sword to be brought — the first step of the test that will reveal who the real mother is.
1 Kings 3:25With no documents, tests, or reliable witnesses, the only way to find the true mother was to watch the reaction to the threat of cutting the child in two. Whoever truly loves gives up custody to save the child’s life, and this story becomes a showcase for Solomon’s wisdom right at the start of his reign.
1 Kings 3:26The true mother, her heart aching for her son, begs that he not be killed and would rather give him to the other woman; but the false one says, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.”
1 Kings 3:27Solomon gives the verdict: give the living child to the woman who pleaded for his life, because that reaction proves she is the true mother.
1 Kings 3:28All Israel hears about this judgment and comes to fear the king, realizing that there was wisdom from God in him to do justice.