^5 (A)At Gibeon ^(B)the Lord appeared to Solomon ^(C)in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

^9 (A)Give your servant therefore an understanding mind ^(B)to govern your people, that I may ^(C)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, ^(D)I now do according to your word. Behold, ^(E)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 (F)I give you also what you have not asked, ^(G)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, ^(H)as your father David walked, then ^(I)I will lengthen your days.”

¹⁵ And Solomon ^(J)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.

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, ^(A)heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Solomon's Benediction

^54 (A)Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had ^(B)knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and ^(C)blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. ^(D)Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. ^(E)May he not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸ that he may ^(F)incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name ^(A)humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

⁶⁰ that ^(A)all the peoples of the earth may know that ^(B)the Lord is God; there is no other. ^61 (C)Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

Solomon Turns from the Lord

11 Now ^(A)King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ^(B)“You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and ^(C)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, ^(D)as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(F)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for ^(G)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(H)Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The Lord Raises Adversaries

⁹ And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because ^(I)his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(J)who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and ^(K)had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. ¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, ^(L)I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.