Old/New Testament
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
3 Solomon made an agreement with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to Jerusalem. At this time Solomon was still building his palace and the Temple of the Lord. He was also building a wall around Jerusalem. 2 The Temple had not yet been finished. So people were still offering animal sacrifices at altars in many places of worship. 3 Solomon showed that he loved the Lord. He did this by following the commands his father David had given him. But Solomon still used the many places of worship to offer sacrifices and to burn incense.
4 King Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice. He went there because it was the most important place of worship. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. 5 While he was at Gibeon, the Lord came to him in a dream during the night. God said, “Ask for anything you want. I will give it to you.”
6 Solomon answered, “You were very kind to your servant, my father David. He obeyed you. He was honest and lived right. And you showed great kindness to him when you allowed his son to be king after him. 7 Lord my God, you have allowed me to be king in my father’s place. But I am like a little child. I do not have the wisdom I need to do what I must do. 8 I, your servant, am here among your chosen people. There are too many of them to count. 9 So I ask that you give me wisdom. Then I can rule the people in the right way. Then I will know the difference between right and wrong. Without wisdom, it is impossible to rule this great people of yours.”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked him for this. 11 So God said to him, “You did not ask for a long life. And you did not ask for riches for yourself. You did not ask for the death of your enemies. Since you asked for wisdom to make the right decisions, 12 I will give you what you asked. I will give you wisdom and understanding. Your wisdom will be greater than anyone has had in the past. And there will never be anyone in the future like you. 13 Also, I will give you what you did not ask for. You will have riches and honor. During your life no other king will be as great as you. 14 I ask you to follow me and obey my laws and commands. Do this as your father David did. If you do, I will also give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up. He knew that God had talked to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord. There he gave burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. After that, he gave a feast for all of his leaders and officers.
Solomon Makes a Wise Decision
16 One day two women who were prostitutes came to Solomon. They stood before him. 17 One of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was there with me. 18 Three days later this woman also gave birth to a baby. No one else was in the house with us. There were only the two of us. 19 One night this woman rolled over on her baby, and it died. 20 So during the night she took my son from my bed while I was asleep. She carried him to her bed. Then she put the dead baby in my bed. 21 The next morning I got up to feed my baby. But I saw that he was dead! Then I looked at him more closely. I saw that he was not my son.”
22 But the other woman said, “No! The living baby is my son. The dead baby is yours!”
But the first woman said, “No! The dead baby is yours, and the living one is mine!” So the two women argued before the king.
23 Then King Solomon said, “Each of you says the living baby is your own. And each of you says the dead baby belongs to the other woman.”
24 Then King Solomon sent his servants to get a sword. When they brought it to him, 25 he said, “Cut the living baby into two pieces. Give each woman half of the baby.”
26 The real mother of the living child was full of love for her son. She said to the king, “Please, my master, don’t kill him! Give the baby to her!”
But the other woman said, “Neither of us will have him. Cut him into two pieces!”
27 Then King Solomon said, “Give the baby to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She is the real mother.”
28 When the people of Israel heard about King Solomon’s decision, they respected him very much. They saw he had wisdom from God to make the right decisions.
Solomon’s Officers
4 King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2 These are the names of his leading officers:
Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;
3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, recorded what happened in the courts;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud recorded the history of the people;
4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander of the army;
Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
5 Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the district governors;
Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;
6 Ahishar was responsible for everything in the palace;
Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the slaves.
7 Solomon placed 12 governors over the districts of Israel. They had to gather food from their districts. Then they were to give it to the king and his family. Each governor was responsible for giving food to the king one month of each year. 8 These are the names of the 12 governors:
Ben-Hur was governor over the mountain country of Ephraim.
9 Ben-Deker was governor over Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan.
10 Ben-Hesed was governor over Arubboth, Socoh and Hepher.
11 Ben-Abinadab was governor over Naphoth Dor. (He was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon.)
12 Baana son of Ahilud was governor over Taanach, Megiddo and all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan. (This was below Jezreel from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across Jokmeam.)
13 Ben-Geber was governor over Ramoth in Gilead. (He was governor over all the Towns of Jair in Gilead. Jair was the son of Manasseh. Ben-Geber was also over the district of Argob in Bashan. It had 60 large, walled cities with bronze bars on their gates.)
14 Ahinadab son of Iddo was governor over Mahanaim.
15 Ahimaaz was governor over Naphtali. (He was married to Basemath daughter of Solomon.)
16 Baana son of Hushai was governor over Asher and Aloth.
17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah was governor over Issachar.
18 Shimei son of Ela was governor over Benjamin.
19 Geber son of Uri was governor over Gilead. (Gilead was the country where Sihon king of the Amorite people lived. Og king of Bashan also lived there.) But Geber was the only governor over the district.
Solomon’s Kingdom
20 There were many people in Judah and Israel. There were as many people as there were grains of sand on the seashore. The people ate, drank and were happy. 21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistine people. His kingdom went as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought Solomon the payments he demanded. And they obeyed him all his life.
22 Solomon needed much food each day to feed himself and all the people who ate at his table. It took 185 bushels of fine flour and 375 bushels of meal. 23 It also took 10 cows that were fed good grain, 20 cows that were raised in the fields and 100 sheep. And it took 3 different kinds of deer and fat birds.
24 Solomon ruled over all the countries west of the Euphrates River. This was the land from Tiphsah to Gaza. And Solomon had peace on all sides of his kingdom. 25 During Solomon’s life Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,[a] lived in peace. Each man was able to sit under his own fig trees and grapevines.
26 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses. And he had 12,000 chariot soldiers. 27 Each month one of the district governors gave King Solomon all the food he needed. This was enough for every person who ate at the king’s table. The governors made sure he had everything he needed. 28 They also gave the king enough barley and straw for the chariot and work horses. Each person brought this grain to the required places.
Solomon’s Wisdom
29 God gave great wisdom to Solomon. Solomon could understand many things. His wisdom was as hard to measure as the sand on the seashore. 30 His wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men in the East. And his wisdom was greater than all the wisdom of the men in Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man on earth. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite. He was wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda. They were the sons of Mahol. King Solomon became famous in all the countries around Israel and Judah. 32 During his life King Solomon spoke 3,000 wise teachings. He also knew 1,005 songs. 33 He taught about many different kinds of plants. He taught about everything from the great cedar trees of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the walls. He also taught about animals, birds, crawling things and fish. 34 People from all nations came to listen to King Solomon’s wisdom. The kings of all nations sent them to listen to him. These kings had heard of Solomon’s wisdom.
Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple
5 Now King Hiram was the king of Tyre. He had always been a friend of David. Hiram heard that Solomon had been made king in David’s place. So he sent his messengers to Solomon. 2 Then Solomon sent this message back to King Hiram: 3 “You remember that my father David had to fight many wars with the countries around him. So he was never able to build a temple for worship to the Lord his God. David was waiting until the Lord allowed him to defeat all his enemies. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me peace. There is peace on all sides of my country. I have no enemies now. My people are in no danger.
5 “The Lord made a promise to my father David. The Lord said, ‘I will make your son king after you. And he will build a temple for worship to me.’ Now, I plan to build that temple for worship to the Lord my God. 6 And so I ask for your help. Send your men to cut down cedar trees for me from Lebanon. My servants will work with yours. I will pay your servants whatever wages you decide. We don’t have anyone who can cut down trees as well as the people of Sidon can.”
7 When Hiram heard what Solomon asked, he was very happy. He said, “I thank the Lord today! He has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation!” 8 Then Hiram sent back this message to Solomon: “I received the message you sent. I will give you all the cedar and pine trees you want. 9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. There I will tie them together. Then I will float them down the shore to the place you choose. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. In return you will give food to all those who live with me.” 10 So Hiram gave Solomon as much cedar and pine as he wanted. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram about 125,000 bushels of wheat each year. It was to feed all those who lived with Hiram. And Solomon gave him about 115,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year.
12 The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon as he had promised. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon. These two kings made a treaty between themselves.
13 King Solomon forced 30,000 men of Israel to help in this work. 14 He put a man named Adoniram over them. Solomon sent a group of 10,000 men each month to Lebanon. So each group worked in Lebanon one month. Then it went home for two months. 15 Solomon forced 80,000 men to work in the hill country, cutting stone. And he had 70,000 men to carry the stones. 16 There were also 3,300 men who directed the workers. 17 King Solomon commanded them to cut large blocks of fine stone. These were to be used for the foundation of the Temple. 18 Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders and the men from Byblos carved the stones. They prepared the stones and the logs for building the Temple.
The Leaders Question Jesus
20 One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and telling them the Good News. The leading priests, teachers of the law, and Jewish elders came up to talk with him. 2 They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
3 Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. Tell me: 4 When John baptized people, did that come from God or from man?”
5 The priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish leaders all talked about this. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’ 6 But if we say, ‘John’s baptism was from man,’ then all the people will kill us with stones because they believe that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know the answer.”
8 So Jesus said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things!”
God Sends His Son
9 Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. The man leased the land to some farmers. Then he went away for a long time. 10 Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to those farmers to get his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. 11 Then he sent another servant. They beat this servant too. They showed no respect for him and sent him away with nothing. 12 So the man sent a third servant. The farmers hurt this servant badly and threw him out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love very much. Maybe they will respect him!’ 14 When they saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, then it will be ours!’ 15 So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What will the owner of this vineyard do? 16 He will come and kill those farmers! Then he will give the vineyard to other farmers.”
The people heard this story. They said, “No! Let this never happen!”
17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this verse mean:
‘The stone that the builders did not want
became the cornerstone’? Psalm 118:22
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on you, it will crush you!”
19 The teachers of the law and the priests heard this story that Jesus told. They knew the story was about them. So they wanted to arrest Jesus at once. But they were afraid of what the people would do.
The Leaders Try to Trap Jesus
20 So they waited for the right time to get Jesus. They sent some spies who acted as if they were good men. They wanted to trap Jesus in what he said so they could hand him over to the authority and power of the governor. 21 So the spies asked Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. You teach the same to all people. You always teach the truth about God’s way. 22 Tell us, is it right that we pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. He said, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose name is on the coin? And whose picture is on it?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”
25 Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. And give to God the things that are God’s.”
26 The men were amazed at his answer. They could say nothing. They were not able to trap Jesus in anything he said before the people.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.