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 3:2 Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, 3 because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord. 4 3:3 Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the Lord by following 5 the practices 6 of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
3:4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. 7 Solomon would offer up 8 a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there. 3:5 One night in Gibeon the Lord appeared 9 to Solomon in a dream. God said, “Tell 10 me what I should give you.”
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 sn Offering sacrifices at the high places. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated.
4 tn Heb “for the name of the
5 tn Heb “Solomon loved the
6 tn Or “policies, rules.”
7 tn Heb “for it was the great high place.”
8 tn The verb form is an imperfect, which is probably used here in a customary sense to indicate continued or repeated action in past time. See GKC 314 §107.b.
9 tn Or “revealed himself.”
10 tn Heb “ask.”