1 Kings 1 - 4 — 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.

Solomon’s Marriage and Sacrifices

3Then ^aSolomon ¹formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter ^band brought her to the city of David ^cuntil he had completed building his own house and the house of Yahweh and ^dthe wall around Jerusalem. ²^aThe people were still sacrificing on the high places because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

³And ^aSolomon loved Yahweh, ^bwalking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁴^aAnd the king went to ^bGibeon to sacrifice there, ^cfor that was the great high place; Solomon offered one thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵^aIn Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon ^bin a dream at night; and God said, “^cAsk what I should give to you.”

God Gives Wisdom to Solomon

⁶Then Solomon said, “^aYou have shown great lovingkindness to Your slave David my father, ^baccording to how he walked before You in ¹truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and ^cYou have kept for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷“So now, O Yahweh my God, ^aYou have made Your slave king in place of my father David, yet ^bI am but a little child; ^cI do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸“^aAnd Your slave is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, ^ba numerous people who are too many to be numbered or counted. ⁹“So ^agive Your slave a listening heart to judge Your people ^bto discern between good and evil. For who is able to ¹judge this glorious people of Yours?”

¹⁰¹And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have ^anot asked for yourself ¹long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to listen to justice, ¹²behold, ^aI have done according to your words. Behold, ^bI have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. ¹³“^aI have also given you what you have not asked, both ^briches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. ¹⁴“^aNow if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will ^bprolong your days.”

¹⁵Then ^aSolomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and ^bmade a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Wisely Judges

¹⁶Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷And the one woman said, “Oh, my lord, ¹this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸“And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. ¹⁹“And this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. ²⁰“So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹“When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” ²²Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But ¹the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³Then the king said, “¹The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and ²the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵Then the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶Then the woman whose son was the living one spoke to the king, for ¹^,^ashe was deeply stirred with compassion over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” ²⁷Then the king said, “Give ¹the first woman the living child, and by no means put him to death. She is his mother.” ²⁸Then all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had ¹handed down, and they feared the king, for ^athey saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

Solomon’s Officials

4So King Solomon was king over all Israel. ²These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was ^athe priest;

³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were scribes; ^aJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ⁴and ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and ^bAbiathar were priests; ⁵and Azariah the son of Nathan was over ^athe deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s friend; ⁶and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

⁷Now Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who sustained the king and his household; each man had to sustain them for a month in the year. ⁸These are their names: Ben-hur, in the ^ahill country of Ephraim;

⁹Ben-deker in Makaz and ^aShaalbim and ^bBeth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; ¹⁰Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (^aSocoh was his and all the land of ^bHepher); ¹¹Ben-abinadab, in all ¹the ^aheight of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); ¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in ^aTaanach and Megiddo, and all ^bBeth-shean which is beside ^cZarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to ^dAbel-meholah as far as the other side of ^eJokmeam; ¹³Ben-geber, in ^aRamoth-gilead (now ¹^,^bHavvoth-Jair—Jair being the son of Manasseh—which is in Gilead was his: ^cthe region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in ^aMahanaim; ¹⁵^aAhimaaz, in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); ¹⁶Baana the son of ^aHushai, in Asher and ¹Bealoth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸^aShimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, ^athe country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only deputy who was in the land.

Judah’s and Israel’s Abundance and Security

²⁰^aJudah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the ¹seashore in abundance; they were eating and drinking and being glad.

²¹¹^,^aNow Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms ^bfrom the ²River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; ^cthey brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²²And Solomon’s ¹provision for one day was ²thirty kors of fine flour and ³sixty kors of meal, ²³ten fat oxen, twenty ¹pasture-fed oxen, one hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. ²⁴For he had dominion over everything ¹west of the ²River, from Tiphsah even to ^aGaza, ^bover all the kings ³west of the ⁴River; and ^che had peace on all sides around about him. ²⁵^aSo Judah and Israel lived in security, every man under his vine and his fig tree, ^bfrom Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶^aSolomon had ¹40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. ²⁷And these deputies sustained King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking. ²⁸They also brought barley and straw for the horses and ^aswift steeds to the place where it should be, each according to the legal judgment for him.

²⁹And ^aGod gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of understanding in his heart, ^blike the sand that is on the seashore. ³⁰And Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all ^athe sons of the east and ^ball the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹And ^ahe was wiser than all men, than ^bEthan the Ezrahite, Heman, ^cCalcol, and ¹Darda, the sons of Mahol; and the renown of his name was in all the surrounding nations. ³²^aHe also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. ³³And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. ³⁴¹And men ^acame from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.