Now king David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn't keep warm.

Therefore his servants said to him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her attend the king, and care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm."

So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

The young lady was very beautiful; and she became the king's attendant and served him; but the king did not know her intimately.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king." So he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

His father had never scolded him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" And he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.

And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him.

But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is near En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants:

Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, "Haven't you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it?

Now therefore come, please let me give you advice, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

Go in to king David, and tell him, 'Did you not, my lord, king, swear to your handmaid, saying, "Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne"? Why then does Adonijah reign?'

Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words."

Bathsheba went in to the king into the room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king.

Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, "What would you like?"

And she said to him, "My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your handmaid, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.'

Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, do not know it.

And he has sacrificed many oxen and fatlings and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army; but he hasn't invited Solomon your servant.

And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you to announce to them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals."

And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.

And they told the king, saying, "Behold, Nathan the prophet." And when he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

And Nathan said, "My lord, king, have you said, 'Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne?'

For 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. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, 'Long live king Adonijah.'

But me, me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited.

Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king, and you haven't told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"

Then king David answered, "Summon Bathsheba to me." So she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

And the king vowed, saying, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

most certainly as I vowed to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;' so I certainly will do this day."

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, paying homage to the king, and said, "Let my lord king David live forever."

And King David said, "Summon to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada." They came before the king.

The king said to them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

And have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, 'Long live king Solomon.'

Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah."

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, "Amen. May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so.

As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David."

So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.

Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, "Long live king Solomon."

All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.

Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?"

While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, "Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news."

The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule.

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

Moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, 'May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;' and the king bowed himself on the bed.

All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way.

Adonijah feared because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, "Go to your house."

Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

"I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;

and keep the instruction of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

That the LORD may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,' he said, 'a man on the throne of Israel.'

"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

Do therefore according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."

David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David.

The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from the LORD.

Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day."

King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

It was told king Solomon, "Joab has fled to the Tent of the LORD, and behold, he is by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him."

Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth.'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from the LORD."

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head."

It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not adjure you by the LORD, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.'

Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?"

But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever."

So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the City of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I shall give you."

Solomon said, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?"

God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

The other woman said, "No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son." This said, "No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son." Thus they spoke before the king.

Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."