1 Kings 3:1-5

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  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.”

[3:1]  ¹ sn The phrase City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

[3:1]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:2]  ³ sn Offering sacrifices at the high places. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated.

[3:2]  ⁴ 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.

[3:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Solomon loved the Lord by walking in.”

[3:3]  ⁶ tn Or “policies, rules.”

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “for it was the great high place.”

[3:4]  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.

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Or “revealed himself.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “ask.”