1 Kings 3:1

The Lord Gives Solomon Wisdom

3:1 Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he married Pharaoh’s daughter. He brought her to the City of David ¹  until he could finish building his residence and the temple of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. ² 

1 Kings 11:43

11:43 Then Solomon passed away ³  and was buried in the city of his father David. ⁴  His son Rehoboam replaced him as king. ⁵ 

1 Kings 11:2

11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ⁶  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ⁷  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ⁸ 

1 Kings 5:7

5:7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he ⁹  has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

1 Kings 5:1

Solomon Gathers Building Materials for the Temple

5:1 (5:15) ¹⁰  King Hiram of Tyre ¹¹  sent messengers ¹²  to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place. (Hiram had always been an ally of David.)

1 Kings 11:7

11:7 Furthermore, ¹³  on the hill east of Jerusalem ¹⁴  Solomon built a high place ¹⁵  for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh ¹⁶  and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ¹⁷ 

¹ sn The phrase City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

⁴ sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

⁵ tc Before this sentence the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it so happened that when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard – now he was in Egypt where he had fled from before Solomon and was residing in Egypt – he came straight to his city in the land of Sarira which is on mount Ephraim. And king Solomon slept with his fathers.”

⁶ tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

⁷ tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁸ tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.

⁹ tn Or “Blessed be the Lord today, who….”

¹⁰ sn The verse numbers in the English Bible differ from those in the Hebrew text (BHS) here; 5:1-18 in the English Bible corresponds to 5:15-32 in the Hebrew text. See the note at 4:21.

¹¹ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹² tn Heb “his servants.”

¹³ tn Heb “then.”

¹⁴ sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.

¹⁵ sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).

¹⁶ tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”

¹⁷ tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).