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1 Kings 3:9

in 1 Kings 3

Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this thy great people?

KJV

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

This verse in 1 Kings 3

Commentary

10 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.

The same is seen also in the example of Solomon who asked, not for gold and silver, but for an understanding heart: and so it was given to him. Hence James: "If any of you is wanting in wisdom, let him ask it of God, …

This site's exposition

thy people which thou hast chosen

on 1 Kings 3:8-9

Solomon calls Israel a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted, echoing the promise made to Abraham of a seed too many to count, and grounds his request in the size of the task rather than his own ambition. What he asks is an understanding heart to judge, literally a hearing heart in the Hebrew, fit to discern between good and bad. That phrase, discern between good and bad, reaches forward to the very case the chapter closes with, two claims that sound alike until a hearing heart tells them apart.

This site's exposition

an understanding heart to judge Your people

Albert Barnes notes that hearing and deciding cases was a chief duty of an Eastern king, and Israel's rulers were called judges for that reason. Adam Clarke calls the request the science of government. Bonaventure joins it to the counsel of James to ask God for wisdom.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Isaac of Nineveh

DISCOURSE 3 · Written before 700.

proposed

Do not be foolish in the request you make to God, otherwise you will insult God through your ignorance. Act wisely in prayer so that you may become worthy of glorious things. Ask for things that are honorable from him who will not hold back …

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

An understanding heart - Whereby I may both clearly discern, and faithfully perform all the parts of my duty: for both these are spoken of in scripture, as the effects of a good understanding; and he that lives in the neglect of his duties, or the practice of wickedness, is called a fool, and one void of understanding.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

That is the best knowledge which will be serviceable to us in doing our duty; and such that knowledge is which enables us to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, sin and duty, truth and falsehood, so as not to be imposed upon by false colours in judging either of others' actions or of our own. The favourable answer God gave to his request. It was a pleasing prayer (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Absalom, who was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking and suspects his own fitness for it. The more knowing and considerate men are the better acquainted they are with their own weakness and the more jealous of themselves.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

One of the chief functions of the Oriental monarch is always to hear and decide causes. Hence, supreme magistrates were naturally called “judges.” (See the introduction to the Book of Judges.) In the minds of the Jews the “judge” and the “prince” were always closely associated, the direct cognisance of causes being constantly taken by their chief civil governors. (See Exo 2:14; Exo 18:16, Exo 18:22; 1Sa 8:20; 2Sa 15:2-6.) Good and bad - i. e. “right and wrong,” “justice and injustice.”

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Give - an understanding heart to judge thy people - He did not ask wisdom in general, but the true science of government. This wisdom he sought, and this wisdom he obtained.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְנָתַתָּ֨and you will give

    venatataH54142011 times

  • לְעַבְדְּךָ֜to servant your

    leavdekhaH5650799 times

  • לֵ֤בa heart

    levH3820595 times

  • שֹׁמֵ֙עַ֙[which] listens

    shomea'H80851159 times

  • לִשְׁפֹּ֣טto judge

    lishpotH8199202 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • עַמְּךָ֔people your

    ʾamekhaH59711873 times

  • לְהָבִ֖יןto distinguish

    lehavinH995170 times

  • בֵּֽין־between

    bein-H996407 times

  • ט֣וֹבgood

    tovH2896538 times

  • לְרָ֑עand evil

    lera'H7451662 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • מִ֤יwho?

    miH4310423 times

  • יוּכַל֙is he able

    yukhalH3201194 times

  • לִשְׁפֹּ֔טto judge

    lishpotH8199202 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • עַמְּךָ֥people your

    ʾamekhaH59711873 times

  • הַכָּבֵ֖ד<the> massive

    hakavedH351541 times

  • הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this

    hazehH20881180 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    James 1:5

    Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 2:3–6

      if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

    • John 15:7

      If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

    • Jeremiah 29:12–13

      Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

    • Proverbs 3:5–7

      Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

    • 1 John 5:14–15

      And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

  • Through

    John 5:30

    I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

    it leads to

    • John 6:38

      For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.

    • John 5:19

      So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

  • Through

    Hebrews 5:14

    But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 2:14–15

      The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Where this verse is studied

By subject

On this page

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Judgment of Solomon — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2; Isaac of Nineveh, DISCOURSE 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.