1 Kings 3:3 (LSB)

Passage

And Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 3:1 Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had completed building his own house and the house of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem.

1 Kings 3:2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

1 Kings 3:3 And Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

1 Kings 3:4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered one thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

1 Kings 3:5 In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what I should give to you.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "solomon", "loved", "yahweh", "walking", "statutes", "father", "david", and "except". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "solomon" and "loved", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "The people were still sacrificing on the..." into verse 4's "And the king went to Gibeon to...", so "solomon" and "loved" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "solomon" and "loved" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.