Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom

1 Kings 3

1 v Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into w the city of David until he had finished x building his own house y and the house of the Lord z and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 a The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

3 Solomon b loved the Lord, c walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, d for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 e At Gibeon f the Lord appeared to Solomon g in a dream by night, and God said, "Ask what I shall give you." 6 And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because h he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and i have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, j you have made your servant king in place of David my father, k although I am but a little child. I do not know l how to go out or come in. 8 m And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, n too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 o Give your servant therefore an understanding mind p to govern your people, that I may q discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?"

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 And God said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 behold, r I now do according to your word. Behold, s I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 13 t I give you also what you have not asked, u both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. 14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, v as your father David walked, then w I will lengthen your days."

15 And Solomon x awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

  1. Cross References
    1 Kings 7:8
    His own house where he was to dwell, in the other court back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had taken in marriage.
    1 Kings 9:16
    (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
    1 Kings 9:24
    But Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
    2 Chronicles 8:11
    Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.
  2. Cross References
    1 Kings 2:10
    Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
  3. Cross References
    1 Kings 7:1
    Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.
  4. Cross References
    1 Kings 6:1
    In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.
  5. Cross References
    1 Kings 9:15
    And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer
  6. Cross References
    1 Kings 22:43
    He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
    Deuteronomy 12:2 - 3
    You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 6:5
    You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
    Deuteronomy 30:16
    If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
    Deuteronomy 30:20
    Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
    Psalms 31:23
    Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
  8. Cross References
    1 Kings 3:6
    And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.
    1 Kings 3:14
    And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
  9. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 1:3
    And Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness, was there.
    2 Chronicles 1:6
    And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
    2 Chronicles 1:13
    So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.
    1 Chronicles 16:39
    And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon
    1 Chronicles 21:29
    For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
  10. Cross References
    1 Kings 3:5 - 14
    At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, "Ask what I shall give you.
    2 Chronicles 1:7 - 12
    In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you.
  11. Cross References
    1 Kings 9:2
    The Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
    1 Kings 11:9
    And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice
  12. Cross References
    Numbers 12:6
    And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
    Matthew 1:20
    But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
    Matthew 2:13
    Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.
    Matthew 2:19
    But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
  13. Cross References
    1 Kings 2:4
    That the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.
    1 Kings 9:4
    And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules.
    Psalms 15:2
    He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
  14. Cross References
    1 Kings 1:48
    And the king also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.'
  15. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 28:5
    And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
  16. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 29:1
    And David the king said to all the assembly, "Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God.
  17. Cross References
    Numbers 27:17
    Who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.
  18. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:6
    For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 13:16
    I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
    Genesis 15:5
    And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.
  20. Cross References
    Proverbs 2:6
    For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
    Proverbs 2:9
    Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path.
    James 1:5
    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 72:1 - 2
    Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!
  22. Cross References
    2 Samuel 14:17
    And your servant thought, 'The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,' for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!
    Isaiah 7:15
    He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
    Hebrews 5:14
    But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
  23. Cross References
    1 John 5:14 - 15
    And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
  24. Cross References
    1 Kings 4:29 - 31
    And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore.
    1 Kings 5:12
    And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
    1 Kings 10:23 - 24
    Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
    Ecclesiastes 1:16
    I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
  25. Cross References
    Matthew 6:33
    But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
  26. Cross References
    1 Kings 4:21 - 24
    Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
    1 Kings 10:23
    Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
    1 Kings 10:27
    And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.
    Proverbs 3:16
    Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
  27. Cross References
    1 Kings 3:6
    And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.
    1 Kings 15:5
    Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 91:16
    With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.
    Proverbs 3:2
    For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
  29. Cross References
    Genesis 41:7
    And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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