The Daily Audio Bible

³ And Solomon loveth Jehovah, to walk in the statutes of David his father -- only, in high places he is sacrificing and making perfume --

⁴ and the king goeth to Gibeon, to sacrifice there, for it [is] the great high place; a thousand burnt-offerings cause to ascend doth Solomon on that altar.

⁵ In Gibeon hath Jehovah appeared unto Solomon, in a dream of the night, and God saith, `Ask -- what do I give to thee?'

⁶ And Solomon saith, `Thou hast done with Thy servant David my father great kindness, as he walked before Thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with Thee, and Thou dost keep for him this great kindness, and dost give to him a son sitting on his throne, as [at] this day.

⁷ And now, O Jehovah my God, Thou hast caused thy servant to reign instead of David my father; and I [am] a little child, I do not know to go out and to come in;

⁸ and Thy servant [is] in the midst of thy people, whom Thou hast chosen, a people numerous, that is not numbered nor counted for multitude,

⁹ and Thou hast given to Thy servant an understanding heart, to judge Thy people, to discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?'

¹⁰ And the thing is good in the eyes of the Lord, that Solomon hath asked this thing,

¹¹ and God saith unto him, `Because that thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thee many days, nor asked for thee riches, nor asked the life of thine enemies, and hast asked for thee discernment to understand judgment,

¹² lo, I have done according to thy words; lo, I have given to thee a heart, wise and understanding, that like thee there hath not been before thee, and after thee there doth not arise like thee;

¹³ and also, that which thou hast not asked I have given to thee, both riches and honour, that there hath not been like thee a man among the kings all thy days;

¹⁴ and if thou dost walk in My ways to keep My statutes, and My commands, as David thy father walked, then I have prolonged thy days.'

¹⁵ And Solomon awaketh, and lo, a dream; and he cometh in to Jerusalem, and standeth before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and causeth to ascend burnt-offerings, and maketh peace-offerings. And he maketh a banquet for all his servants,

¹⁶ then come in do two women, harlots, unto the king, and stand before him,

¹⁷ and the one woman saith, `O, my lord, I and this woman are dwelling in one house, and I bring forth with her, in the house;

¹⁸ and it cometh to pass on the third day of my bringing forth, that this woman also bringeth forth, and we [are] together, there is no stranger with us in the house, save we two, in the house.

¹⁹ And the son of this woman dieth at night, because she hath lain upon it,

²⁰ and she riseth in the middle of the night, and taketh my son from beside me -- and thy handmaid is asleep -- and layeth it in her bosom, and her dead son she hath laid in my bosom;

²¹ and I rise in the morning to suckle my son, and lo, dead; and I consider concerning it in the morning, and lo, it was not my son whom I did bear.'

²² And the other woman saith, `Nay, but my son [is] the living, and thy son the dead;' and this [one] saith, `Nay, but thy son [is] the dead, and my son the living.' And they speak before the king.

²³ And the king saith, `This [one] saith, This [is] my son, the living, and thy son [is] the dead; and that [one] saith, Nay, but thy son [is] the dead, and my son the living.'

²⁴ And the king saith, `Take for me a sword;' and they bring the sword before the king,

²⁵ and the king saith, `Cut the living child into two, and give the half to the one, and the half to the other.'

²⁶ And the woman whose son [is] the living one saith unto the king (for her bowels yearned over her son), yea, she saith, `O, my lord, give to her the living child, and put it not at all to death;' and this [one] saith, `Let it be neither mine or thine -- cut [it].'

²⁷ And the king answereth and saith, `Give ye to her the living child, and put it not at all to death; she [is] its mother.'

²⁸ And all Israel hear of the judgment that the king hath judged, and fear because of the king, for they have seen that the wisdom of God [is] in his heart, to do judgment.

4 And king Solomon is king over all Israel,

² and these [are] the heads whom he hath: Azariah son of Zadok [is] the priest;

³ Elihoreph and Ahiah sons of Shisha [are] scribes; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud [is] remembrancer;

⁴ and Benaiah son of Jehoiada [is] over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar [are] priests;

⁵ and Azariah son of Nathan [is] over the officers; and Zabud son of Nathan [is] minister, friend of the king;

⁶ And Ahishar [is] over the household, and Adoniram son of Abda [is] over the tribute.

⁷ And Solomon hath twelve officers over all Israel, and they have sustained the king and his household -- a month in the year is on each one for sustenance;

⁸ and these [are] their names: Ben-Hur in the hill-country of Ephraim;

⁹ Ben-Dekar in Makaz, and Shaalbim, and Beth-Shemesh, and Elon-Beth-Hanan.

¹⁰ Ben-Hesed [is] in Aruboth, hath Sochoh and all the land of Hepher;

¹¹ Ben-Abinadab [hath] all the elevation of Dor, Taphath daughter of Solomon became his wife.

¹² Baana Ben-Ahilud [hath] Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-Shean, which [is] by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-Shean unto Abel-Meholah, unto beyond Jokneam.

¹³ Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-Gilead, hath the small towns of Jair son of Manasseh, which [are] in Gilead; he hath a portion of Argob that [is] in Bashan, sixty great cities [with] wall and brazen bar.

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo [hath] Mahanaim.

¹⁵ Ahimaaz [is] in Naphtali; he also hath taken Basemath daughter of Solomon for a wife.

¹⁶ Baanah Ben-Hushai [is] in Asher, and in Aloth.

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat Ben-Paruah [is] in Issachar.

¹⁸ Shimei Ben-Elah [is] in Benjamin.

¹⁹ Geber Ben-Uri [is] in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorite, and of Og king of Bashan: and one officer who [is] in the land.

²⁰ Judah and Israel [are] many, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing.

²¹ And Solomon hath been ruling over all the kingdoms, from the River [to] the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt: they are bringing nigh a present, and serving Solomon, all days of his life.

²² And the provision of Solomon for one day is thirty cors of flour, and sixty cors of meal;

²³ ten fat oxen, and twenty feeding oxen, and a hundred sheep, apart from hart, and roe, and fallow-deer, and fatted beasts of the stalls,

²⁴ for he is ruling over all beyond the river, from Tiphsah and unto Gaza, over all the kings beyond the river, and he hath peace from all his servants round about.

²⁵ And Judah dwelleth -- and Israel -- in confidence, each under his vine, and under his fig-tree, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, all the days of Solomon.

²⁶ And Solomon hath forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

²⁷ And these officers have sustained king Solomon and every one drawing near unto the table of king Solomon, each [in] his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸ And the barley and the straw, for horses and for dromedaries, they bring in unto the place where they are, each according to his ordinance.

²⁹ And God giveth wisdom to Solomon, and understanding, very much, and breadth of heart, as the sand that [is] on the edge of the sea;

³⁰ and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt;

³¹ and he is wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol, and his name is in all the nations round about.

³² And he speaketh three thousand similes, and his songs [are] five, and the chief one;

³³ and he speaketh concerning the trees, from the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaketh concerning the cattle, and concerning the fowl, and concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fishes,

³⁴ and there come out of all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who have heard of his wisdom.

6 And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration,

² and the twelve, having called near the multitude of the disciples, said, `It is not pleasing that we, having left the word of God, do minister at tables;

³ look out, therefore, brethren, seven men of you who are well testified of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may set over this necessity,

⁴ and we to prayer, and to the ministration of the word, will give ourselves continually.'

⁵ And the thing was pleasing before all the multitude, and they did choose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch,

⁶ whom they did set before the apostles, and they, having prayed, laid on them [their] hands.

⁷ And the word of God did increase, and the number of the disciples did multiply in Jerusalem exceedingly; a great multitude also of the priests were obedient to the faith.

⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people,

⁹ and there arose certain of those of the synagogue, called of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia, and Asia, disputing with Stephen,

¹⁰ and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking;

¹¹ then they suborned men, saying -- `We have heard him speaking evil sayings in regard to Moses and God.'

¹² They did stir up also the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and having come upon [him], they caught him, and brought [him] to the sanhedrim;

¹³ they set up also false witnesses, saying, `This one doth not cease to speak evil sayings against this holy place and the law,

¹⁴ for we have heard him saying, That this Jesus the Nazarean shall overthrow this place, and shall change the customs that Moses delivered to us;'

¹⁵ and gazing at him, all those sitting in the sanhedrim saw his face as it were the face of a messenger.

126 A Song of the Ascents. In Jehovah's turning back [to] the captivity of Zion, We have been as dreamers.

² Then filled [with] laughter is our mouth, And our tongue [with] singing, Then do they say among nations, `Jehovah did great things with these.'

³ Jehovah did great things with us, We have been joyful.

⁴ Turn again, O Jehovah, [to] our captivity, As streams in the south.

⁵ Those sowing in tears, with singing do reap,

⁶ Whoso goeth on and weepeth, Bearing the basket of seed, Surely cometh in with singing, bearing his sheaves!

²⁶ A labouring man hath laboured for himself, For his mouth hath caused [him] to bend over it.

²⁷ A worthless man is preparing evil, And on his lips -- as a burning fire.