Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.

So they conducted a search throughout the territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman, and Abishag the Shunammite was located and brought to the king.

And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

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.

And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.

And Bathsheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king.

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 was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

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."

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."

And Zadok the priest took the vessel of oil out of the Tent, and put the holy oil on Solomon. And when the horn was sounded, all the people said, Long life to King Solomon!

And all the people came up after him, piping with pipes, and they were glad with great joy, so that the earth was shaking with the sound.

And it came to the ears of Adonijah and all the guests who were with him, when their meal was ended. And Joab, hearing the sound of the horn, said, What is the reason of this noise as if the town was worked up?

While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived. And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a valiant and trustworthy man and you bring good news.”

And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet put the holy oil on him and made him king in Gihon; and they came back from there with joy, and the town was all worked up. This is the noise which has come to your ears.

And the king's servants came to our lord King David, blessing him and saying, May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and the seat of his authority greater than your seat; and the king was bent low in worship on his bed.

Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he got up and went and grasped the horns of the altar.

And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

So King Solomon sent for him, and he was brought down from the altar. When he had arrived, he fell on his face in front of King Solomon, so Solomon told him, "Go home!"

When David’s time to die approached, he gave instructions to Solomon his son, saying,

Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

Lo! also, there is with thee - Shimei son of Gera a Benjamite, of Behurim, well, he, it was who cursed me with a grievous curse; on the day I journeyed to Mahanaim, - but he, came down to meet me, at the Jordan, and so I sware to him by Yahweh, saying - I will not put thee to death, with the sword.

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

The length of time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.

Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

And thereupon Bathsheba went unto king Solomon to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up against her and bowed himself unto her, and sat him down on his seat. And there was a seat set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right side.

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.

And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

And when Benaiah was come to the tabernacle of the LORD he said unto him, "Thus sayeth the king: 'Come out.'" And he said, "Nay: But I will die even here." And Benaiah brought the king word, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

But it happened after three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish the son of Maacah, the king of Gath. And Shimei was told, “Behold, your [runaway] servants are in Gath.”

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

The king said moreover to Shimei, You know all the wickedness which was in your heart, that you did to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness upon your own head;

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

Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter as his wife, keeping her in the town of David, till the house he was building for himself, and the house of the Lord and the wall round Jerusalem, were complete.

Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

Solomon loved Yahweh, by walking in the statutes of David his father; only he [was] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

In the hill Jehovah was seen to Solomon in a dream at night: and God will say, Ask what I shall give to thee.

And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day.

The word was good in the eyes of [the] Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And with this I have given you what you made no request for: wealth and honour, so that no king was ever your equal.

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

And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.

In the night, this woman, sleeping on her child, was the cause of its death.

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.

And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.

Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

And these are the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok was priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, were scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder [of important events];

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend:

And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.

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}.

These [are] their names: Ben-Hur [was] in the hill country of Ephraim.

Ben-Deker [was] in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan.

Ben-Hesed [was] in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher [were] his.

Ben-Abinadab had all the upland of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife.

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.

Ben-Geber [was] in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead [were] his, and the region of Argob which [is] in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls [having] crossbars of bronze, [were] his.

Ahinadab the son of Iddo [was in] Mahanaim.

Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife:

Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:

Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah [was] in Issachar.

Shimei the son of Ela [was] in Benjamin.

Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.

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.

And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,

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.

And those overseers, every man in his month, saw that food was produced for Solomon and all his guests, they took care that nothing was overlooked.

They also brought the barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds (warhorses, chargers) to the place where it was needed, each man according to his assignment.

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

The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt.

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.

He was the maker of three thousand wise sayings, and of songs to the number of a thousand and five.

And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of 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.

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."

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

And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.

And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

Then he built the extensions [of rooms] against the entire house, each [story] five cubits high; and they were attached to the house with timbers of cedar.

The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood.

And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room.

And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

Solomon also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the LORD's Ark of the Covenant was placed.

And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.