His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm."

So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king.

His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, but our lord David does not know?

Come, go to King David and say to him, 'Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, "Surely Solomon your son shall become king after me. And he will sit on my throne"? But why is Adonijah king?'

So Bathsheba went to the king in the private room. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunnamite was attending the king.

Bathsheba knelt and bowed down before the king, and the king asked, "{What do you want}?"

She said to him, "My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!'

But now, look! Adonijah has become king! And now, my lord the king, you do not know!

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

They told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

surely as I swore to you by Yahweh the God of Israel, saying, 'Solomon your son shall surely be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,' surely I shall do so this [very] day."

Then Bathsheba knelt with her face to the ground and did obeisance to the king, and she said, "May my lord, King David, live forever."

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

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

Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went down, and they let Solomon ride on the mule of King David, and they brought him to Gihon.

Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, "But our lord King David has made Solomon king!

The servants of the king also came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'Your God has made the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!' So the king worshiped on the bed.

What is more, the king said, 'May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing [it]!'"

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first} that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'"

Solomon said, "If he is a son of noble character, not a hair of his [head] will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he will die."

Then King Solomon sent and brought him down from upon the altar. He came and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, "Go to your house."

The days of David came near [for him] to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying,

"I [am about to] go the way of all the world. Be strong and be {courageous}.

You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn,

so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.'"

"Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in [a time of] peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet.

You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace.

Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he {cursed me severely} when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, 'I surely will not kill you with the sword.'

So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you [are] a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood."

Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, "{Are you coming in peace}?" He said, "Peace."

He said, "You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother's, for it was from Yahweh for him [to have it].

Now one request I am asking from you, and you must {not refuse me}." Then she said to him, "Go on."

He said, "Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife."

Then Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you."

Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

Then she said, "Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and [ask] for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life.

So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today."

To Abiathar the priest, the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your field, for {you deserve to die}, but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured."

So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

When the message came to Joab (now Joab {had supported} Adonijah but {had not supported} Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar.

It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent [word] to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and fall upon him."

So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Come out.'" And he said, "No, for I want to die here." So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, "Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me."

Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father.

Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; [namely] Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out {anywhere whatsoever} from there.

It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that {you will surely die}. Your blood will be on your head."

Shimei said to the king, "The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Your slaves [are] here in Gath."

So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.

When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, 'On the day you go out and you go {anywhere whatsoever}, know for certain that {you will surely die}.' And you said to me, 'The word is good; I accept.'

Then the king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head,

Solomon intermarried with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the city of David until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the walls of Jerusalem all around.

So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place [was] there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

Yahweh appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, "Ask what I should give to you."

Then Solomon said, "You have shown great loyal love with your servant David my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have shown for him this great loyal love, and you have given a son to him who is sitting on his throne as [it is] this day.

So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father [though] I [am] a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in.

Give to your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and bad, because who is able to judge this, your difficult people?"

And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself {a long life} and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself {the ability to make wise judgments};

behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise.

Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, [so that] no man among the kings will be like you all of your days.

Then Solomon awoke, and look, [it was] a dream, and he came [to] Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of [the] Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants.

Then two prostitutes came to the king, and they stood before him.

It happened on the third day [after] my giving birth, this woman also gave birth, and we [were] together. There was not anyone with us in the house, only the two of us [were] in the house.

When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! When I looked closely at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne."

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

Then the woman whose son [was] the living one spoke to the king because her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, "Please, my lord, give her the living child, but certainly do not kill him!" The other one [was] saying, "As for me, so for you! Divide [him]!"

Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to her, and do not kill him; she [is] his mother."

When all of Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, they {stood in awe} of the king, because they realized that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.

Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the governors, and Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest, an advisor to the king.

Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, {each one was to sustain for each month of the year}.

Baanah the son of Ahilud [was] in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which [is] beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam.

Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River [to] the land of [the] Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who [were] bringing tribute and [were] serving Solomon all the days of his life.

The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour;

For he [was] ruling over all the west of the River from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace from every side all around.

These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each [in] his month; they did not omit anything.

The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.

God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as {breadth of understanding}, as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore.

He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which [is] in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish.

They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard [of] his wisdom.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David.

Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

"You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, {in view of the warfare} which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them under the soles of his feet.

Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.'

So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows [how] to cut timber like the Sidonians."

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, "Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses.

My servants will bring [them] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them [into] rafts in the sea [to float to] the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry [them further], and {you shall meet my needs} by giving food for my house."

So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, {everything he needed}.

Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat [as] food for his household, and twenty dry measures of {specially prepared olive oil}; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them {made} a covenant.

He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand {every month}; the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor.

When the king commanded, they quarried great stones [and] precious stones to lay [the] foundation of the house [with] hewn stones.

So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites hewed [stones], and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh.