⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the great high place. Upon its altar Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings. ⁵ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said: Whatever you ask I shall give you. ⁶ Solomon answered: “You have shown great kindness to your servant, David my father, because he walked before you with fidelity, justice, and an upright heart; and you have continued this great kindness toward him today, giving him a son to sit upon his throne. ⁷ Now, Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed David my father; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act— ⁸ I, your servant, among the people you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to give judgment for this vast people of yours?”

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased by Solomon’s request. ¹¹ So God said to him: Because you asked for this—you did not ask for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies—but you asked for discernment to know what is right— ¹² I now do as you request. I give you a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like you until now, nor after you will there be anyone to equal you. ^13 (A)In addition, I give you what you have not asked for: I give you such riches and glory that among kings there will be no one like you all your days. ¹⁴ And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as David your father did, I will give you a long life. ¹⁵ Solomon awoke; it was a dream! He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings, and gave a feast for all his servants.

Solomon’s Listening Heart.^[a]

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to Solomon: ^12 (A)As to this house you are building—if you walk in my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and observe all my commands, walking in them, I will fulfill toward you my word which I spoke to David your father. ¹³ I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.

^2 (A)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him: I have heard the prayer of petition which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this house which you have built and I set my name there forever; my eyes and my heart shall be there always. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, wholeheartedly and uprightly, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping my statutes and ordinances, ^5 (B)I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father: There shall never be wanting someone from your line on the throne of Israel. ⁶ But if ever you and your descendants turn from following me, fail to keep my commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the house I have consecrated for my name. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all nations, ^8 (C)and this house shall become a heap of ruins. Every passerby shall gasp in horror and ask, “Why has the Lord done such things to this land and to this house?” ⁹ And the answer will come: “Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods, bowing down to them and serving them. That is why the Lord has brought upon them all this evil.”

After Building the Temple.^[a]