Bible Strands
1 Kings 3:5
One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon, the night after Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings at the great high place. The speaker is God; the recipient is the newly anointed king.
The words — נִרְאָה (nir'ah), "he appeared," is the niphal of ra'ah, the same verb used in Numbers 12:6 for how God reveals Himself to a prophet. The niphal form stresses that the appearance is initiated by the one appearing, not by the one seeing.
The thread — 1 Kings 9:2 recalls this as the first of two appearances at Gibeon; James 1:5 picks up the "ask and it will be given" pattern without the dream frame. Numbers 12:6 uses the identical verb to distinguish true prophetic revelation from false.
Why it lands — The invitation is unconditional and open-ended: "Ask, and I will give it to you," with no stated limit or qualification. The reader is placed in Solomon's position, holding the request in their own hands.
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
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 9:2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
- 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.
- Numbers 12:6 He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- 2 Chronicles 1:7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
- John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- Mark 10:36 “What do you want Me to do for you?” He inquired.
- Genesis 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
- Matthew 2:13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
- 1 Kings 11:9 Now the LORD grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
- Matthew 2:19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.