Wednesday, 5/1/24 - 1 Kings 3 & 10
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
3 1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.
He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
A Wise Ruling
16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”
But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”
But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
10 1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.
6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”
10 And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. 12 The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)
13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.
Solomon’s Splendor
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.
23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.
3 1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.
He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
A Wise Ruling
16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”
But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”
But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
10 1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.
6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”
10 And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. 12 The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)
13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.
Solomon’s Splendor
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.
23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.
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Archive
2024
January
Monday, 1/22/24 - Overview Genesis 1-11 (Bible Project)Tuesday, 1/23/24 - Genesis 1-2:4aWednesday, 1/24/24 - Genesis 2:4-2:25Thursday, 1/25/24 - Genesis 3Friday, 1/26/24 - Overview: Genesis 12-50 (Bible Project)Monday, 1/29/24 - Genesis 12 & 15Tuesday, 1/30/24 - Genesis 21:1-21; 22:1-19Wednesday, 1/31/24 - Genesis 24; 25:19-34
February
Thursday, 2/1/24 - Genesis 27Friday, 2/2/24 - Genesis 28-29:14Monday, 2/5/24 - Genesis 29:15 - 30:24Tuesday, 2/6/24 - Genesis 32:3-33:17Wednesday, 2/7/24 - Genesis 37Thursday, 2/8/24 - Genesis 39-40Friday, 2/9/24 - Genesis 41Monday, 2/12/24 - Genesis 42 & 43Tuesday, 2/13/24 - Genesis 44 & 45Wednesday, 2/14/24 - Genesis 46; 50:15-26Thursday, 2/15/24 - Overview: Exodus 1-18 (Bible Project)Friday, 2/16/24 - Exodus 1 - 2Monday, 2/19/24 - Exodus 3 - 4Tuesday, 2/20/24 - Exodus 7 & 11Wednesday, 2/21/24 - Exodus 12 - 13:2, 17-22Thursday, 2/22/24 - Exodus 14Friday, 2/23/24 - Exodus 16 - 17:7, 18Monday, 2/26/24 - Overview: Exodus 19-40 (Bible Project)Tuesday, 2/27/24 - Exodus 19-20:21Wednesday, 2/28/24 - Exodus 32Thursday, 2/29/24 - Exodus 33 & 34
March
Friday, 3/1/24 - Overview: Leviticus (Bible Project)Monday, 3/4/24 - Leviticus 16Tuesday, 3/5/24 - Leviticus 25Wednesday, 3/6/24 - Overview: Numbers (Bible Project) & Numbers 6:22-27; 9:15-23Thursday, 3/7/24 - Numbers 11 & 12Friday, 3/8/24 - Numbers 13 & 14Monday, 3/11/24 - Overview: Deuteronomy (Bible Project)Tuesday, 3/12/24 - Deuteronomy 4:1-40Wednesday, 3/13/24 - Deuteronomy 6-7:11Thursday, 3/14/24 - Deuteronomy 18:15-22; 31:1-8; 34Friday, 3/15/24 - Overview: Joshua (Bible Project)Monday, 3/18/24 - Joshua 1 & 2Tuesday, 3/19/24 - Joshua 3; 5:13 - 6:27Wednesday, 3/20/24 - Joshua 24Thursday, 3/21/24 - Overview: Judges (Bible Project)Friday, 3/22/24 - Judges 2Monday, 3/25/24 - Judges 4Tuesday, 3/26/24 - Judges 6 & 7Wednesday, 3/27/24 - Judges 13 & 14Thursday, 3/28/24 - Judges 15 & 16Friday, 3/29/24 - Overview: Ruth (Bible Project)
April
Monday, 4/1/24 - Ruth 1 & 2Tuesday, 4/2/24 - Ruth 3 & 4Wednesday, 4/3/24 - Overview: 1 Samuel (Bible Project)Thursday, 4/4/24 - 1 Samuel 1 & 3Friday, 4/5/24 - 1 Samuel 8 & 9Monday, 4/8/24 - 1 Samuel 10Tuesday, 4/9/24 - 1 Samuel 13:1-15; 1 Samuel 15Wednesday, 4/10/24 - 1 Samuel 16Thursday, 4/11/24 - 1 Samuel 17Friday, 4/12/24 - 1 Samuel 18 & 19Monday, 4/15/24 - 1 Samuel 20Tuesday, 4/16/24 - 1 Samuel 24 & 25Wednesday, 4/17/24 - 1 Samuel 31Thursday, 4/18/24 - Overview: 2 Samuel (Bible Project)Friday, 4/19/24 - 2 Samuel 1:1 - 2:7Monday, 4/22/24 - 2 Samuel 5 & 7Tuesday, 4/23/24 - 2 Samuel 11 & 12Wednesday, 4/24/24 - 2 Samuel 15:1-31Thursday, 4/25/24 - 2 Samuel 18-19:8Friday, 4/26/24 - 2 Samuel 24Monday, 4/29/24 - Overview 1 & 2 Kings (Bible Project)Tuesday, 4/30/24 - 1 Kings 1:1-2:12
May
Wednesday, 5/1/24 - 1 Kings 3 & 10Thursday, 5/2/24 - 1 Kings 11Friday, 5/3/24 - 1 Kings 17 - 18:19Monday, 5/6/24 - 1 Kings 18:20-19:21Tuesday, 5/7/24 - 1 Kings 22Wednesday, 5/8/24 - 2 Kings 2 & 5:1-19Thursday, 5/9/24 - 2 Kings 6:1-23Friday, 5/10/24 - 2 Kings 17Monday, 5/13/24 - 2 Kings 22-23:30Tuesday, 5/14/24 - 2 Kings 25Wednesday, 5/15/24 - Overview: 1 & 2 Chronicles (Bible Project)Thursday, 5/16/24 - Overview: Ezra-Nehemiah (Bible Project)Friday, 5/17/24 - Ezra 1Monday, 5/20 - Nehemiah 1 & 2Tuesday, 5/21/24 - Overview: Esther (Bible Project)Wednesday, 5/22/24 - Esther 1 & 2Thursday, 5/23/24 - Esther 3 & 4Friday, 5/24/24 - Overview: Job (Bible Project)Monday, 5/27/24 - Job 1-3Tuesday, 5/28/24 - Job 15-17Wednesday, 5/29/24 - Job 38Thursday, 5/30/24 - Job 42Friday, 5/31/24 - Overview: Psalms (Bible Project)