Study Desk

Then Solomon said, "You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

"So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this great people of Yours?"

And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself 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,

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.

Then the other woman said, "No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son." But 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.

Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one'; and the other says, 'No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for 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!"

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.

Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal,

For he was ruling over everything west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace on all sides surrounding him.

Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

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.

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.

For he was wiser than all other people, more than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.

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 always been a friend of David.

"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.

"So behold, I 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.'

"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."

Solomon then gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pure oil; this is what Solomon would give Hiram year by year.

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.