1 Kings 3:2-5

3:2 Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, ¹  because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord. ²  3:3 Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the Lord by following ³  the practices ⁴  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. ⁵  Solomon would offer up ⁶  a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there. 3:5 One night in Gibeon the Lord appeared ⁷  to Solomon in a dream. God said, “Tell ⁸  me what I should give you.”

¹ sn Offering sacrifices at the high places. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated.

² tn Heb “for the name of the Lord.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor (thus the translation here, “to honor the Lord”). The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.

³ tn Heb “Solomon loved the Lord by walking in.”

⁴ tn Or “policies, rules.”

⁵ tn Heb “for it was the great high place.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Or “revealed himself.”

⁸ tn Heb “ask.”