Now King David had become old, {advanced in years}, and they covered him with garments, but he was not warm.

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."

Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not {have sexual relations with her}.

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

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.

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?'

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 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.

"For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals {in abundance}. He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, "Long live King Adonijah!

If it was from my lord the king that this thing has happened, [then all is well,] but if not, you must let your servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him."

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.

Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

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.

All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on the flutes and rejoicing [with] great joy, and the earth shook with their noise.

And Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [it]. Now they were finished eating when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, "{Why is there such a noise in the city?}"

He sent Zadok the priest with the king, and Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites; they made him ride on the king's mule.

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing. The city has gone wild; this [is] the sound which you heard.

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,

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."

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."

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.

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."

King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.

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.

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

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.

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 commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

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.

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};

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

Then the son of this woman died [in the] night because she laid on him.

So she got up in the middle of the night, and she took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she put him in her lap, and she put her dead son in my lap.

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 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.

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.

"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.

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.

King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark [were] sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance.

You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled [it] this very day.

So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, 'For you, no man will be cut off from before me who [will be] sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.'

[If] a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house,

then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and {to declare the righteous innocent} by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease,

to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors.

Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh.

Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days [and] seven days, [a total of] fourteen days.

Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon.

Yahweh said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes.

Now the queen of Sheba had heard of the fame of Solomon regarding the name of Yahweh, and she came to test him with hard questions.

So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; [with] camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart.

Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.

And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded.

But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad [was] a young boy.

They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came [to] Egypt, [to] Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land.

Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as wife.

The sister of Tahpenes bore Genubath his son for him, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of the house of Pharaoh. Genubath was [in] the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the children of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me that you now [are] seeking to go to your land?" He said, "No, but you must surely send me away."

God had [also] raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master.

He gathered men around him and he became the commander of bandits. When David killed [some of] them, they went to Damascus and settled {there}, and they reigned in Damascus.

Now the man Jeroboam [was] a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man {was a diligent worker}, so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph.

Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which [was] on him and tore it into twelve pieces.

but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel;

But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.

Then Solomon slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

So they sent and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came. [Then] they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

They said to him, "If you will be a servant today to this people, then you will serve them; and if you answer them and speak good words to them, they will always be your servants."

But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were {serving} before him.

Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten [it] for us,' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

King Rehoboam sent Adoram who [was] over the forced labor, and all of Israel cast stones at him and he died, but King Rehoboam managed to get up on the chariot to flee [to] Jerusalem.

It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one [followed] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and {return to him}."

It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself.

Then the king responded and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me." So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning.

Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel [and] the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father.

Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it

and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I [am]."

Then he said to him, "Come with me to the house and eat [some] food."

Then he said, "I [am] also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.'" He lied to him.

So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.

Now it happened that they [were] sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back.

When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body [was] thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion [was] standing by the dead body.

When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, "It [is] the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him."

So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him.

He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, "Alas, my brother!"

It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, "When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God [is] buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones.

You must take ten loaves of bread in your hand and cakes and a jar of honey, and you must go to him. He shall tell you what will happen to the boy."

All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel.

They buried him and all of Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.