King David was very old; even when they covered him with blankets, he could not get warm.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened steers at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, as well as all the men of Judah, the king's servants.

Visit King David and say to him, 'My master, O king, did you not solemnly promise your servant, "Surely your son Solomon will be king after me; he will sit on my throne"? So why has Adonijah become king?'

So Bathsheba visited the king in his private quarters. (The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.)

Bathsheba bowed down on the floor before the king. The king said, "What do you want?"

She replied to him, "My master, you swore an oath to your servant by the Lord your God, 'Solomon your son will be king after me and he will sit on my throne.'

Now, my master, O king, all Israel is watching anxiously to see who is named to succeed my master the king on the throne.

If a decision is not made, when my master the king is buried with his ancestors, my son Solomon and I will be considered state criminals."

Nathan said, "My master, O king, did you announce, 'Adonijah will be king after me; he will sit on my throne'?

For today he has gone down and sacrificed many cattle, steers, and sheep and has invited all the king's sons, the army commanders, and Abiathar the priest. At this moment they are having a feast in his presence, and they have declared, 'Long live King Adonijah!'

Has my master the king authorized this without informing your servants who should succeed my master the king on his throne?"

The king swore an oath: "As certainly as the Lord lives (he who has rescued me from every danger),

I will keep today the oath I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel: 'Surely Solomon your son will be king after me; he will sit in my place on my throne.'"

and he told them, "Take your master's servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and lead him down to Gihon.

Then follow him up as he comes and sits on my throne. He will be king in my place; I have decreed that he will be ruler over Israel and Judah."

As the Lord is with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon, and may he make him an even greater king than my master King David!"

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went down, put Solomon on King David's mule, and led him to Gihon.

Zadok the priest took a horn filled with olive oil from the tent and poured it on Solomon; the trumpet was blown and all the people declared, "Long live King Solomon!"

Now Adonijah and all his guests heard the commotion just as they had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he asked, "Why is there such a noisy commotion in the city?"

As he was still speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in, for an important man like you must be bringing good news."

The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites and they put him on the king's mule.

Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king in Gihon. They went up from there rejoicing, and the city is in an uproar. That is the sound you hear.

The king's servants have even come to congratulate our master King David, saying, 'May your God make Solomon more famous than you and make him an even greater king than you!' Then the king leaned on the bed

and said this: 'The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because today he has placed a successor on my throne and allowed me to see it.'"

When David was close to death, he told Solomon his son:

Do the job the Lord your God has assigned you by following his instructions and obeying his rules, commandments, regulations, and laws as written in the law of Moses. Then you will succeed in all you do and seek to accomplish,

and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, 'If your descendants watch their step and live faithfully in my presence with all their heart and being, then,' he promised, 'you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'

"You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me -- how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.

"Treat fairly the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs, because they helped me when I had to flee from your brother Absalom.

"Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the Lord, 'I will not strike you down with the sword.'

Then David passed away and was buried in the city of David.

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

Solomon sat on his father David's throne, and his royal authority was firmly solidified.

Haggith's son Adonijah visited Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, "Do you come in peace?" He answered, "Yes."

Now I'd like to ask you for just one thing. Please don't refuse me." She said, "Go ahead and ask."

He said, "Please ask King Solomon if he would give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife, for he won't refuse you."

Bathsheba replied, "That's fine, I'll speak to the king on your behalf."

So Bathsheba visited King Solomon to speak to him on Adonijah's behalf. The king got up to greet her, bowed to her, and then sat on his throne. He ordered a throne to be brought for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.

She said, "I would like to ask you for just one small favor. Please don't refuse me." He said, "Go ahead and ask, my mother, for I would not refuse you."

King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, "May God judge me severely, if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life!

Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David's throne, and established a dynasty for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!"

The king then told Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your property in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times."

Solomon dismissed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, fulfilling the decree of judgment the Lord made in Shiloh against the family of Eli.

When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.

When King Solomon heard that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, "Go, strike him down."

When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, "The king says, 'Come out!'" But he replied, "No, I will die here!" So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab's reply.

So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and executed Joab; he was buried at his home in the wilderness.

Next the king summoned Shimei and told him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there -- but you may not leave there to go anywhere!

If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die! You will be responsible for your own death."

Shimei said to the king, "My master the king's proposal is acceptable. Your servant will do as you say." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

Three years later two of Shimei's servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told, "Look, your servants are in Gath."

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

the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "You will recall that I made you take an oath by the Lord, and I solemnly warned you, 'If you ever leave and go anywhere, know for sure that you will certainly die.' You said to me, 'The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.'

Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he married Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he could finish building his residence and the temple of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.

Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord.

Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the Lord by following the practices of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. Solomon would offer up a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there.

One night in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream. God said, "Tell me what I should give you."

Solomon replied, "You demonstrated great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne.

Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David's place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced.

So give your servant a discerning mind so he can make judicial decisions for your people and distinguish right from wrong. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours."

God said to him, "Because you asked for the ability to make wise judicial decisions, and not for long life, or riches, or vengeance on your enemies,

One of the women said, "My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was with me in the house.

Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us.

This woman's child suffocated during the night when she rolled on top of him.

She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms.

I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby."

The king said, "One says, 'My son is alive; your son is dead,' while the other says, 'No, your son is dead; my son is alive.'"

The king then said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!"

The real mother spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. She said, "My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don't kill him!" But the other woman said, "Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!"

When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected the king, for they realized that he possessed supernatural wisdom to make judicial decisions.

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, wrote down what happened. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records.

Solomon had twelve district governors appointed throughout Israel who acquired supplies for the king and his palace. Each was responsible for one month in the year.

These were their names: Ben-Hur was in charge of the hill country of Ephraim.

Ben-Deker was in charge of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan.

Ben-Hesed was in charge of Arubboth; he controlled Socoh and all the territory of Hepher.

Ben-Abinadab was in charge of Naphath Dor. (He was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath.)

Baana son of Ahilud was in charge of Taanach and Megiddo, as well as all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah and on past Jokmeam.

Ben-Geber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he controlled the tent villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty large walled cities with bronze bars locking their gates.

Ahinadab son of Iddo was in charge of Mahanaim.

Ahimaaz was in charge of Naphtali. (He married Solomon's daughter Basemath.)

Baana son of Hushai was in charge of Asher and Aloth.

Jehoshaphat son of Paruah was in charge of Issachar.

Shimei son of Ela was in charge of Benjamin.

Geber son of Uri was in charge of the land of Gilead (the territory which had once belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites and to King Og of Bashan). He was sole governor of the area.

The people of Judah and Israel were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore; they had plenty to eat and drink and were happy.

ten calves fattened in the stall, twenty calves from the pasture, and a hundred sheep, not to mention rams, gazelles, deer, and well-fed birds.

The district governors acquired supplies for King Solomon and all who ate in his royal palace. Each was responsible for one month in the year; they made sure nothing was lacking.

Each one also brought to the assigned location his quota of barley and straw for the various horses.

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment; the breadth of his understanding was as infinite as the sand on the seashore.

He was wiser than any man, including Ethan the Ezrahite or Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. He was famous in all the neighboring nations.

He produced manuals on botany, describing every kind of plant, from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on walls. He also produced manuals on biology, describing animals, birds, insects, and fish.

King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father's place. (Hiram had always been an ally of David.)

"You know that my father David was unable to build a temple to honor the Lord his God, for he was busy fighting battles on all fronts while the Lord subdued his enemies.

But now the Lord my God has made me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat.

So I have decided to build a temple to honor the Lord my God, as the Lord instructed my father David, 'Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, is the one who will build a temple to honor me.'

So now order some cedars of Lebanon to be cut for me. My servants will work with your servants. I will pay your servants whatever you say is appropriate, for you know that we have no one among us who knows how to cut down trees like the Sidonians."

When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was very happy. He said, "The Lord is worthy of praise today because he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation."

My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate. There I will separate the logs and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court."

King Solomon conscripted work crews from throughout Israel, 30,000 men in all.