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 then, come, let me advise you please, {that you may save} your life and the life of your son, Solomon.

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 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.

It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."

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

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

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."

Then King David answered and said, "Summon Bathsheba for me." Then she came before the king and stood in his presence.

Then the king swore and said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who has saved my life from all trouble,

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 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, "Amen! So may Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, confirm it!

As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David."

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!'"

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.

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.'

Then he said, "{May I have a word with you}?" Then she said, "Go on."

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."

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}."

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 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.

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.

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,

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.

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

The one woman said, "Please my lord, I and this woman are living in one house, and I gave birth, with her in the house.

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.

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 other woman said, "No, for my son [is] the living one, and your son [is] the dead one." The other kept on saying, "No, for your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] the living one," and so they argued in front of the king.

Then the king said, "This one [is] saying, 'This [is] my son, the living one, but your son [is] the dead one,' and the other one keeps saying, 'But no! Your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] living!'"

So the king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king.

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]!"

"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.

But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence.

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."

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."

"[Regarding] this temple that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father.

And I will dwell {among} the {Israelites}, and I will not forsake my people Israel."

Then he said, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth [to] David my father and fulfilled {by his oath}, saying,

'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

{David my father desired} to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel,

but Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because {you desired} to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart.

However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.'

Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel.

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.'

So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised to your servant David my father.

You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant [is] praying before you this day,

so that your eyes [will] be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, 'My name will be there,' to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

[Do these things] so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.

you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built.

You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, [even] for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them,

[O,] that your eyes [may] be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things [when] they call to you.

For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!"

May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors, and may he not leave us or abandon us,

Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh [be] near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel {as each day requires}

so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he [is] God; there is none other.

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.

As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with {integrity of heart} and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and if] you keep my ordinances and my judgments,

"If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them,

then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples.

So he said, "What [are] these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" {So they are called the land of Cabul until this day}.

Then she said to the king, "The report which I heard in my land was true concerning your accomplishments and your wisdom.

I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. {Your wisdom and prosperity surpass} the report that I had heard.

May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel, because of the love of Yahweh for Israel forever, and he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness."

So Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.

Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear [away]. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."

Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Send me away that I may go to my land."

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."

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;

because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of [the] Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the {Ammonites}. They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as [did] David his father.

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.

To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name.

It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

He said, "Go up for three days and then return to me"; so the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been {serving} before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, "How [are] you advising [me] {to answer this people}?"

He said to them, "What [are] you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us.'"

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.

So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!'"