1 Kings 3; 1 Kings 4; 1 Kings 5; Luke 20:1-26

1 Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh, Egypt's king, when he married Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her to David's City until he finished building his royal palace, the LORD's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 Unfortunately, the people were sacrificing at the shrines because a temple hadn't yet been built for the LORD's name in those days.

3 Now Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the laws of his father David, with the exception that he also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines.

4 The king went to the great shrine at Gibeon in order to sacrifice there. He used to offer a thousand entirely burned offerings on that altar.

5 The LORD appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask whatever you wish, and I'll give it to you."

6 Solomon responded, "You showed so much kindness to your servant my father David when he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and with a heart true to you. You've kept this great loyalty and kindness for him and have now given him a son to sit on his throne.

7 And now, LORD my God, you have made me, your servant, king in my father David's place. But I'm young and inexperienced. I know next to nothing.

8 But I'm here, your servant, in the middle of the people you have chosen, a large population that can't be numbered or counted due to its vast size.

9 Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish good from evil, because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help."

10 It pleased the LORD that Solomon had made this request.

11 God said to him, "Because you have asked for this instead of requesting long life, wealth, or victory over your enemies—asking for discernment so as to acquire good judgment—

12 I will now do just what you said. Look, I hereby give you a wise and understanding mind. There has been no one like you before now, nor will there be anyone like you afterward.

13 I now also give you what you didn't ask for: wealth and fame. There won't be a king like you as long as you live.

14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my laws and commands, just as your father David did, then I will give you a very long life."

15 Solomon awoke and realized it was a dream. He went to Jerusalem and stood before the chest containing the LORD's covenant. Then he offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices, and held a celebration for all his servants.

16 Sometime later, two prostitutes came and stood before the king.

17 One of them said, "Please, Your Majesty, listen: This woman and I have been living in the same house. I gave birth while she was there.

18 This woman gave birth three days after I did. We stayed together. Apart from the two of us, there was no one else in the house.

19 This woman's son died one night when she rolled over him.

20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him on her chest and laid her dead son on mine.

21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the daylight, it turned out that it wasn't my son—not the baby I had birthed."

22 The other woman said, "No! My son is alive! Your son is the dead one." But the first woman objected, "No! Your son is dead! My son is alive!" In this way they argued back and forth in front of the king.

23 The king said, "This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead.' The other one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and my son is alive.'

24 Get me a sword!" They brought a sword to the king.

25 Then the king said, "Cut the living child in two! Give half to one woman and half to the other woman."

26 Then the woman whose son was still alive said to the king, "Please, Your Majesty, give her the living child; please don't kill him," for she had great love for her son. But the other woman said, "If I can't have him, neither will you. Cut the child in half."

27 Then the king answered, "Give the first woman the living newborn. Don't kill him. She is his mother."

28 All Israel heard about the judgment that the king made. Their respect for the king grew because they saw that God's wisdom was in him so he could execute justice.

1 King Solomon became king of all Israel.

2 These were his officials: the priest Azariah, Zadok's son;

3 the scribes Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha; Jehoshaphat, the recorder, Ahilud's son;

4 the general Benaiah, Jehoiada's son; the priests Zadok and Abiathar;

5 Azariah, Nathan's son, who was in charge of the officials; Zabud, Nathan's son, a priest and royal friend;

6 Ahishar, who was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram, Abda's son, who was supervisor of the work gangs.

7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel. They supplied the king and his palace with food. Each would provide the supplies for one month per year.

8 Here are their names: Ben-hur in the highlands of Ephraim;

9 Ben-deker in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-bethhanan;

10 Ben-hesed in Arubboth, who had Socoh and all the land of Hepher;

11 Ben-abinadab in all of Naphath-dor (Taphath, Solomon's daughter, was his wife);

12 Baana, Ahilud's son, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean beside Zarethan and below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and over to the region opposite Jokmeam;

13 Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead, who controlled the villages of Jair, Manasseh's son, which were in Gilead, and who had the Argob region that was in Bashan—sixty large walled cities with bronze bars;

14 Ahinadab, Iddo's son, in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali, who also took Solomon's daughter Basemath as his wife;

16 Baana, Hushai's son, in Asher and Bealoth;

17 Jehoshaphat, Paruah's son, in Issachar;

18 Shimei, Ela's son, in Benjamin;

19 Geber, Uri's son, in the land of Gilead, the land of the Amorite king Sihon and of King Og of Bashan; and there was a single officer who was in the land of Judah.

20 Judah and Israel grew numerous like the sand alongside the sea. They ate, drank, and celebrated.

21 Solomon ruled over all the states from the Euphrates River through the Philistines' land and as far as the border of Egypt. These areas brought tribute to Solomon and served him all the days of his life.

22 Solomon's food requirements for a single day included thirty kors of refined flour; sixty kors of flour;

23 ten head of grain-fattened cattle; twenty head of pastured cattle; one hundred sheep; as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and the best of fowl.

24 He ruled over all the lands west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all sides.

25 The people of Judah and Israel from Dan all the way to Beer-sheba lived securely under their vines and fig trees throughout the days of Solomon.

26 Solomon had forty thousand horse stalls for his chariots and twelve thousand additional horses.

27 The officials provided King Solomon and all who joined him at the royal table with monthly food rations. They left out nothing.

28 Each brought their share of barley and straw for the horses and for the chariot horses, bringing it to its proper place.

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding—insight as long as the seashore itself.

30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than all the famous Easterners, greater even than all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 He was wiser than anyone, more wise than Ethan the Ezrahite or Mahol's sons: Heman, Calcol, and Darda. His reputation was known throughout the region.

32 Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs and one thousand five songs.

33 He described the botany of trees, whether the cedar in Lebanon or the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He also described cattle, birds, anything that crawls on the ground, and fish.

34 People came from everywhere to listen to Solomon's wisdom; even the earth's kings who had heard about his wisdom came!

1 Because King Hiram of Tyre was loyal to David throughout his rule, Hiram sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that Solomon had become king after his father.

2 Solomon sent the following message to Hiram:

3 "You know that my father David wasn't able to build a temple for the name of the LORD my God. This was because of the enemies that fought him on all sides until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

4 Now the LORD my God has given me peace on every side, without enemies or misfortune.

5 So I'm planning to build a temple for the name of the LORD my God, just as the LORD indicated to my father David, ‘I will give you a son to follow you on your throne. He will build the temple for my name.'

6 Now give the order and have the cedars of Lebanon cut down for me. My servants will work with your servants. I'll pay your servants whatever price you set, because you know we have no one here who is skilled in cutting wood like the Sidonians."

7 Hiram was thrilled when he heard Solomon's message. He said, "Today the LORD is blessed because he has given David a wise son who is in charge of this great people."

8 Hiram sent word back to Solomon: "I have heard your message to me. I will do as you wish with the cedar and pinewood.

9 My servants will bring the wood down the Lebanon Mountains to the sea. I'll make rafts out of them and float them on the sea to the place you specify. There I'll dismantle them, and you can carry them away. Now, as for what you must do for me in return, I ask you to provide for my royal house."

10 So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and pinewood that he wanted.

11 In return, Solomon gave an annual gift to Hiram of twenty thousand kors of wheat to eat, and twenty thousand kors of pure oil for his palace use.

12 Now the LORD made Solomon wise, just as he had promised. Solomon and Hiram made a covenant and had peace.

13 King Solomon called up a work gang of thirty thousand workers from all over Israel.

14 He sent ten thousand to work in Lebanon each month. Then they would spend two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the work gang.

15 Solomon had 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stonecutters in the highlands.

16 This doesn't include Solomon's 3,300 supervisors in charge of the work, who had oversight over the laborers.

17 At the king's command, they quarried huge stones of the finest quality in order to lay the temple's foundation with carefully cut stone.

18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram, along with those of Byblos, prepared the timber and the stones for the construction of the temple.

1 On one of the days when Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests, legal experts, and elders approached him.

2 They said, "Tell us: What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?"

3 He replied, "I have a question for you. Tell me:

4 Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin?"

5 They discussed among themselves, "If we say, ‘It's of heavenly origin,' he'll say, ‘Why didn't you believe him?'

6 But if we say, ‘It's of human origin,' all the people will stone us to death because they are convinced that John was a prophet."

7 They answered that they didn't know where it came from.

8 Then Jesus replied, "Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things."

9 Jesus told the people this parable: "A certain man planted a vineyard, rented it to tenant farmers, and went on a trip for a long time.

10 When it was time, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants sent him away, beaten and empty-handed.

11 The man sent another servant. But they beat him, treated him disgracefully, and sent him away empty-handed as well.

12 He sent a third servant. They wounded this servant and threw him out.

13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I'll send my son, whom I love dearly. Perhaps they will respect him.'

14 But when they saw him, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Let's kill him so the inheritance will be ours.'

15 They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never happen!"

17 Staring at them, Jesus said, "Then what is the meaning of this text of scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on."

19 The legal experts and chief priests wanted to arrest him right then because they knew he had told this parable against them. But they feared the people.

20 The legal experts and chief priests were watching Jesus closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to trap him in his words so they could hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.

21 They asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are correct in what you say and teach. You don't show favoritism but teach God's way as it really is.

22 Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

23 Since Jesus recognized their deception, he said to them, "Caesar's," they replied.

24 "Show me a coin. Whose image and inscription does it have on it?"

25 He said to them, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

26 They couldn't trap him in his words in front of the people. Astonished by his answer, they were speechless.