Bible Strands
1 Kings 3:16
At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — After Solomon returns to Jerusalem from his dream encounter and completes his sacrificial worship, two women identified as prostitutes approach him in his royal court. The narrative shifts from national religious observance to an immediate legal petition directed at the king.
The words — The Hebrew זֹנ֖וֹת (zo.not) literally denotes prostitutes, while the verb תָּבֹ֗אנָה (ta.vo.nah) stresses their deliberate arrival before the throne. These terms establish the social and legal context for the dispute that follows.
The thread — The text introduces marginalized women seeking royal judgment, echoing the judicial mandate of Exodus 18:16 and contrasting with the moral warning of Leviticus 19:29. This narrative pattern reappears in Judges 11:1 through the genealogical note of a prostitute as a parent.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to note that judicial authority is immediately tested by stigmatized petitioners rather than elite figures. It demands attention to how legal process begins with those who approach the throne without social privilege.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
Cross-references
- Exodus 18:16 “Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me to judge between one man and another, and I make known to them the statutes and laws of God.”
- Judges 11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
- Leviticus 19:29 You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.
- Numbers 27:2 the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the whole congregation, and said,
- Deuteronomy 23:17 No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
- Exodus 18:13 The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening.