Therefore his servants said to him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her attend the king, and care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm."

So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king." So he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

His father had never scolded him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" And he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.

But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, "Haven't you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it?

Now therefore come, please let me give you advice, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

Go in to king David, and tell him, 'Did you not, my lord, king, swear to your handmaid, saying, "Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne"? Why then does Adonijah reign?'

Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words."

Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, "What would you like?"

And she said to him, "My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your handmaid, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.'

Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, do not know it.

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

Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals."

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

Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king, and you haven't told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"

And the king vowed, saying, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

most certainly as I vowed to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;' so I certainly will do this day."

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

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

Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?"

While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, "Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news."

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

Also thus said the king, 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.'"

All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way.

Solomon said, "If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die."

"I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;

and keep the instruction of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

That the LORD may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,' he said, 'a man on the throne of Israel.'

"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably.

He said moreover, I have something to tell you." She said, "Say on."

He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from the LORD.

Now I ask one petition of you. Do not deny me." She said to him, "Say on."

He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."

Bathsheba said, "Alright. I will speak for you to the king."

Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

Then she said, "I ask one small petition of you; do not deny me." The king said to her, "Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you."

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day."

To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth.'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head."

It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not adjure you by the LORD, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.'

Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?"

The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness on your own head.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I shall give you."

Solomon said, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can't be numbered nor counted for multitude.

Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?"

God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

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

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

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore."

Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

The king said, "Get me a sword." They brought a sword before the king.

Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it." But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it."

Then the king answered, "Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother."

Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

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

Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

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

"You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

Behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for my name.'

Now therefore command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon. My servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

It happened, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, "Blessed is the LORD this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them. You shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household."

The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a treaty together.

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

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 men subject to forced labor.

Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;

besides Solomon's chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.

"Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.

I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."

For the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive wood: the lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.

So also made he for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall;

He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams.

It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row.

He made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them.

His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the porch of the house.

He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.

For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar; and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference, and its thickness hollowed out was four fingers. The second was the same.

He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

It was a handbreadth thick: and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.