1 Kings 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

David in Old Age

1Now King David was old, advanced in age; and they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm. ²So his servants said to him, “Let them seek a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king and become his nurse; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.” ³So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the ^aShunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴Now the young woman was very beautiful; and she became the king’s nurse and attended him, but the king did not ¹know her.

⁵Now ^aAdonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” So ^bhe prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men as runners before him. ⁶But his father had never ¹grieved him at any time by asking, “Why have you done so?” And he was also a very handsome man in form, and ²^,^ahe was born after Absalom. ⁷¹And he had conferred with ^aJoab the son of Zeruiah and with ^bAbiathar the priest; and following ^cAdonijah, they helped him. ⁸But ^aZadok the priest, ^bBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, ^cNathan the prophet, ^dShimei, Rei, and ^ethe mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

⁹And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the ¹stone of Zoheleth, which is beside ^aEn-rogel; and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants. ¹⁰But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, and ^aSolomon his brother.

Nathan Speaks to Bathsheba

¹¹Then Nathan spoke to ^aBathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it? ¹²“So now come, please let me ^agive you counsel and provide escape for your life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³“Go ¹at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn to your maidservant, saying, “^aSurely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ ¹⁴“Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and fully confirm your words.”

¹⁵So Bathsheba went in to the king in the bedroom. Now ^athe king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. ¹⁶Then Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself ¹before the king. And the king said, “What ²do you wish?” ¹⁷And she said to him, “My lord, you swore to your maidservant by ¹Yahweh your God, saying, ‘^aSurely your son Solomon shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸“But now, behold, Adonijah is king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know it. ¹⁹“^aAnd he has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. ²⁰“As for you now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹“Otherwise it will be, ^aas soon as my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered ¹offenders.”

²²Behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³Then they told the king, saying, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And then he came in before the king and prostrated himself ¹before the king with his ²face to the ground. ²⁴Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? ²⁵“^aFor he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons and the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they are eating and drinking before him; and they say, ‘^bLong live King Adonijah!’ ²⁶“^aBut me, even me your servant, and Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and your servant Solomon, he has not invited. ²⁷“Has this thing happened by my lord the king, and you have not made known to your ¹servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

²⁸Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. ²⁹And the king swore and said, “^aAs Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ³⁰surely as ^aI swore to you by Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Surely your son Solomon shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place’; I will surely do so this day.” ³¹Then Bathsheba bowed with her ¹face to the ground, and prostrated herself ²before the king and said, “^aMay my lord King David live forever.”

³²Then King David said, “Call to me ^aZadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came into the king’s presence. ³³And the king said to them, “Take with you ^athe servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to ^bGihon. ³⁴“And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet shall ^aanoint him there as king over Israel and ^bblow the trumpet and say, ‘^cLong live King Solomon!’ ³⁵“Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne. And he shall be king in my place; for I have commanded him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.” ³⁶Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! Thus may Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, say. ³⁷“^aAs Yahweh has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and ^bmake his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

Solomon Anointed King

³⁸So ^aZadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, ^bthe Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to ^cGihon. ³⁹Zadok the priest then ^atook the horn of oil from the tent and ^banointed Solomon. Then they ^cblew the trumpet, and all the people said, “^dLong live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰And all the people went up after him, and the people ¹were playing on flutes and were glad with great gladness, so that the earth ²shook at their sound.

⁴¹And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. Then Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, “Why is the sound of the city such an uproar?” ⁴²While he was still speaking, behold, ^aJonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, “Come in, for ^byou are a valiant man and bring good news.” ⁴³But Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “No! Our lord King David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴“The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; and they have made him ride on the king’s mule. ⁴⁵“And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from there with gladness, ^aso that the city is in an uproar. This is the sound which you have heard. ⁴⁶“And also, ^aSolomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. ⁴⁷“And also, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May ^ayour God make the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!’ And ^bthe king bowed himself on the bed. ⁴⁸“And also, the king said thus, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who ^ahas granted one to sit on my throne today while my own eyes see it.’”

⁴⁹Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled; and they arose and each went on his way. ⁵⁰And Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, and he arose, went, and ^atook hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹Then it was told to Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” ⁵²And Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, ^anot one of his hairs will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” ⁵³So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself ¹before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

David’s Command to Solomon

2Then David’s ¹^,^atime to die drew near, so he commanded Solomon his son, saying, ²“^aI am going the way of all the earth. ^bSo you shall be strong, and be a man. ³“And you shall keep the responsibility given by Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, ^aaccording to what is written in the Law of Moses, that ^byou may be prosperous in all that you do and wherever you turn, ⁴so that ^aYahweh may establish His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘^bIf your sons keep their way, ^cto walk before Me in ¹truth with all their heart and with all their soul, He said, ²^,^dyou shall not have a man cut off from the throne of Israel.’

⁵“Now you also know what Joab the ^ason of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to ^bAbner the son of Ner, and to ^cAmasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also ¹shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt ²about his ³waist, and on his sandals ⁴on his feet. ⁶“^aSo act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷“But ^ashow lovingkindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and ^blet them be among those who eat at your table; ^cfor they ¹assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ⁸“Behold, ^athere is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a ¹violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when ^bhe came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹“So now, do not let him go unpunished, ^afor you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood.”

The Death of David

¹⁰Then ^aDavid slept with his fathers and was buried in ^bthe city of David. ¹¹^aAnd the ¹time which David reigned over Israel was forty years; in Hebron he reigned ^bseven years and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ¹²And ^aSolomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Adonijah’s Request

¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “^aDo you come peacefully?” And he said, “Peacefully.” ¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” ¹⁵So he said, “You know that ^athe kingdom was mine and ^bthat all Israel ¹expected me to be king; ^chowever, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, ^dfor it was his from Yahweh. ¹⁶“So now, I am making one request of you; do not ¹turn me away.” And she said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not ¹turn you away, that he may give me ^aAbishag the Shunammite as a wife.” ¹⁸And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

Adonijah Put to Death

¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he ^ahad a throne set for the king’s mother, and ^bshe sat on his right. ²⁰Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; ^ado not turn ¹me away.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn ²you away.” ²¹So she said, “^aLet Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” ²²Then King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ^aAsk for him also the kingdom—^bfor he is my older brother—even for him, for ^cAbiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” ²³Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has ^anot spoken this word against his own ¹life. ²⁴“So now, as Yahweh lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and ^awho has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” ²⁵So King Solomon ^asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.

²⁶Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “^aGo to Anathoth to your own field, ^bfor you ¹deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because ^cyou carried the ark of Lord Yahweh before my father David, and because ^dyou were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” ²⁷So Solomon drove Abiathar away from being priest to Yahweh, in order to fulfill ^athe word of Yahweh, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Put to Death

²⁸Now the news came to Joab, ^afor Joab had followed Adonijah, ^balthough he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of Yahweh and ^ctook hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹And it was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon ^asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “^bGo, fall upon him.” ³⁰So Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh and said to him, “Thus the king has said, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹And the king said to him, “^aDo as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, ^bthat you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause. ³²“^aAnd Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, ^bbecause he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, but my father David did not know it: ^cAbner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^dAmasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³“^aSo shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed forever; but to David and his seed and his house and his throne, may there be peace from Yahweh forever.” ³⁴Then ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house ^bin the wilderness. ³⁵^aAnd the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed ^bZadok the priest ^cin the place of Abiathar.

Shimei Put to Death

³⁶Then the king sent and called for ^aShimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place. ³⁷“Now it will be on the day you go out and ^across over the ¹brook Kidron, that you will know for certain that you shall surely die; ^byour blood shall be on your own head.” ³⁸Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹But it happened at the end of three years, that two of the slaves of Shimei ran away ^ato Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.” ⁴⁰Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to search for his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. ⁴²So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘You will know for certain that on the day you go out and go anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word which I have heard is good.’ ⁴³“Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the command which I have commanded you?” ⁴⁴The king also said to Shimei, “^aYou know all the evil which ¹you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore ^bYahweh shall return your evil on your own head. ⁴⁵“But King Solomon shall be blessed, and ^athe throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.” ⁴⁶^aSo the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died. ^bThus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.