Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
1 vSolomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into wthe city of David until he had finished xbuilding his own house yand the house of the Lord zand the wall around Jerusalem. 2 aThe people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
3 Solomon bloved the Lord, cwalking 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, dfor that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 eAt Gibeon fthe Lord appeared to Solomon gin 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 hhe 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 ihave given him a son to sit on his throne this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, jyou have made your servant king in place of David my father, kalthough I am but a little child. I do not know lhow to go out or come in. 8 mAnd your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, ntoo many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 oGive your servant therefore an understanding mind pto govern your people, that I may qdiscern 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, rI now do according to your word. Behold, sI 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 tI give you also what you have not asked, uboth 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, vas your father David walked, then wI will lengthen your days.”
15 And Solomon xawoke, 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.
Greeting
1 Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God, and cTimothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at Corinth, dwith all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 eGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God of All Comfort
3 fBlessed be the gGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and hGod of all comfort, 4 iwho comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in jChrist’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.1 6 kIf we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you lshare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,2 of mthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us nrely not on ourselves obut on God pwho raises the dead. 10 qHe delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. rOn him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 sYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf tfor the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Paul’s Change of Plans
12 For our boast is this, uthe testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity3 and vgodly sincerity, wnot by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did xpartially understand us—that yon the day of our Lord Jesus zyou will boast of us as awe will boast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, bI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ca second dexperience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you eon my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans faccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as gGod is faithful, hour word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For ithe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, jSilvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but kin him it is always Yes. 20 For lall the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our mAmen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and nhas anointed us, 22 and who has also oput his seal on us and pgiven us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.4
