The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. ⁸And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ⁹Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?' ¹⁰And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹And God said unto him: 'Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern justice; ¹²behold, I have done according to thy word: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there hath been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. ¹³And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour—so that there hath not been any among the kings like unto thee—all thy days. ¹⁴And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.' ¹⁵And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream; and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

      ¹⁶Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷And the one woman said: 'Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. ¹⁸And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also; and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. ¹⁹And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlay it. ²⁰And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ²¹And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked well at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I did bear.' ²²And the other woman said: 'Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.' And this said: 'No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son.' Thus they spoke before the king.

      ²³Then said the king: 'The one saith: This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead; and the other saith: Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.' ²⁴And the king said: 'Fetch me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵And the king said: 'Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.' ²⁶Then spoke the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her heart yearned upon her son, and she said: 'Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.' But the other said: 'It shall be neither mine nor thine; divide it.' ²⁷Then the king answered and said: 'Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.' ²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

      4And king Solomon was king over all Israel. ²And these were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ⁵and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister and the king's friend; ⁶and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the levy.

      ⁷And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year. ⁸And these are their names: The son of Hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim; ⁹the son of Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; ¹⁰the son of Hesed, in Arubboth; to him pertained Socoh, and all the land of Hepher; ¹¹the son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife; ¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam; ¹³the son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; to him pertained the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; even to him pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars; ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife; ¹⁶Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and one officer that was [over all the officers] in the land. ²⁰Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

      5And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt; they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

      ²And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal; ³ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, beside harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl. ⁴For he had dominion over all the region on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River; and he had peace on all sides round about him. ⁵And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

      ⁶And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ⁷And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking. ⁸Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they unto the place where it should be, every man according to his charge.

      ⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. ¹⁰And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. ¹¹For he was wiser than all men: than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about. ¹²And he spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. ¹³And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. ¹⁴And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

      ¹⁵And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father; for Hiram was ever a lover of David. ¹⁶And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: ¹⁷'Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of my feet. ¹⁸But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence. ¹⁹And, behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke unto David my father, saying: Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build the house for My name. ²⁰Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and I will give thee hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt say; for thou knowest that there is not among us any that hath skill to hew timber like unto the Zidonians.'

²¹And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said: 'Blessed be the Lord this day, who hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.' ²²And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: 'I have heard that which thou hast sent unto me; I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of cypress. ²³My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will make them into rafts to go by sea