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.” 3:6 Solomon replied, “You demonstrated 11 great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served 12 you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. 13 You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne. 14 3:7 Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David’s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced. 15 3:8 Your servant stands 16 among your chosen people; 17 they are a great nation that is too numerous to count or number.
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.”
11 tn Heb “did.”
12 tn Heb “walked before.”
13 tn Heb “in faithfulness and in innocence and in uprightness of heart with you.”
14 tn Heb “and you have kept to him this great loyalty and you gave to him a son [who] sits on his throne as this day.”
15 tn Heb “and I do not know going out or coming in.”
16 tn There is no verb expressed in the Hebrew text; “stands” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
17 tn Heb “your people whom you have chosen.”