But Barzillai said unto the king, "Of what age am I of, that I should go with the king into Jerusalem?

Wherefore all the men of Israel came to the king and said unto him, "Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household and all David's men with him over Jordan?"

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "We have ten parts in the king, and have thereto more right to David than ye. Why then did ye despise us, that our advice had not been first had in restoring our king again?" And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there happened to be an unthrifty fellow named Sheba, the son of Bichri a man of Benjamin which blew a trumpet and said, "We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse, O Israel.

Then said the king to Amasa, "Call me the men of Judah together within three days and present thyself here."

Wherefore the king said to Abishai, "Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri be worse to us than Absalom. Take thou therefore thy lord's servants and follow after him: lest he get him walled cities and escape us."

And Joab said to Amasa, "Are all things in rest and peace my brother?" And Joab took Amasa by the chin with the right hand, as though he would have kissed him.

And one of Joab's men that stood by him said, "What is he that he would be as Joab, and what is he that would be unto David instead of Joab?"

When Joab was come the woman said, "Art thou Joab?" And Joab answered, "That am I." And she said to him, "Hear the words of thy handmaid." And he said, "I am ready to hear."

And she said, "It hath been a common saying in the old time: 'Men must ask of Abel, and then go and finish the work.'

And Joab answered and said, "God forbid! God forbid it me, that I should either devour or destroy it.

The matter is not so: But there is a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, which hath lifted up his hand against king David. Deliver us him only, and I will depart from the city." And the woman said unto Joab, "Behold, his head shall be thrown through the wall to thee."

Wherefore David said unto them, "What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I content you that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

And the Gibeonites said unto him, "We have no matter of silver or of gold with Saul or with his house: neither have we any man that we would kill in Israel." Then he said, "What say ye that I shall do for you?"

And they said unto the king, "The man that consumed and imagined to bring us to nought, him we ought to destroy, that nought of him continue in any of the coasts of Israel.

Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, that we may hang them up unto the LORD, in Gibeah of Saul the LORD's elect." And David said, "I will give them you."

And he said, "The LORD is my rock, my castle and my deliverer.

These be the last sayings of David. David the son of Jesse said: and the man which is lifted up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and pleasant Psalmist of Israel said,

The God of Israel spake unto me, and the strength of Israel said, 'He that beareth rule over men, he that ruleth justly in the fear of God,

stood in the midst of the said ground, and defended it and slew the Philistines. And the LORD gave him a great victory.

And David longed and said, "Oh, that I had of the water that is in the well in the gate of Bethlehem for to drink."

and said, "The LORD forbid that I should do so! Should I drink the blood of men that were in jeopardy of their lives?" And so he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

And forthwith the king said to Joab the captain of his Host, "Go abroad, I pray thee, throughout all the tribes of Israel, even from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people that I may know the number of them."

And Joab said unto the king, "I beseech that the LORD thy God make the people as many more as they be: yea and a hundred times so many more, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see them. But how is it that my lord the king hath a lust in this thing?"

And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And he said unto the LORD, "I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done. And now LORD take away the trespass of thy servant: for I have done foolishly."

And Gad came to David and showed him and said unto him, "Whether wilt thou have seven years hunger in thy land, or that thou flee three months before thine enemies and they following thee, or that there be three days pestilence in thy land? Now understand, and see what word I shall bring again to him that sent me."

Then said David unto Gad, "I am in a marvelous strait. But let me fall I pray thee, into the hands of the LORD, for much is his mercy, and let me not fall into the hands of men.

And when the Angel stretched out his hand unto Jerusalem to have destroyed it, the LORD had compassion to do that evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed the people, "It is sufficient: let thine hand cease." And the Angel was at the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite.

Then spake David unto the LORD when he saw the Angel that smote the people, and said, "Lo, it is I that have sinned, and I that have done wickedly. But these sheep what have they done? Let I pray thee thine hand be on me and on my father's house."

And Gad came the same day to David and said unto him, "Go up and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

and said, "Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor of thee, for to make an altar unto the LORD that the plague may cease from the people."

And Araunah said unto the king, "Let my lord the king take and offer what seemeth him good in his eyes: Behold, oxen for sacrifice, and sleds and the other instruments of the oxen for wood."

And Araunah the king's friend gave all to the king, and said moreover unto the king, "The LORD thy God accept thee."

But the king said unto Araunah, "Not so, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and will not offer sacrifice unto the LORD my God that shall cost me nought." And so David bought the threshing floor, and the oxen for fifty sicles of silver.

Wherefore his servants said unto him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young maiden to wait upon him and to cherish him. And let her lie in his bosom, that my lord the king may get heat."

And his father rebuked him not at any time, nor said so much to him as "Why dost thou so?" And he was thereto a goodly man and his mother bare him next, after Absalom.

And Bathsheba stooped and made obeisance unto the king. And the king said, "What is thy matter?"

And she answered and said, "My lord, thou hast sworn by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, 'Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my seat.'

and said, "My lord king, hast thou said, 'Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my seat?'

Then king David answered, and said, "Call me Bathsheba." And she came in and stood before him.

And Bathsheba bowed on her face to the earth and did obeisance unto the king, and said, "I pray God my lord king David may live ever."

Then said king David, "Call me Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada." And when they came before the king,

the king said unto them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and set Solomon my son upon mine own mule and carry him down to Gihon.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, "Amen, and so I pray God that the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.

And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew a trumpet, and they all said, "God save king Solomon!"

And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him, heard it even as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "How happeneth it there is such a noise in the city?"

And as he yet spake, see, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, "Come, for thou art a lusty blood and bringest good tidings."

And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, "Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king.

And last of all thus said the king, 'Blessed be the LORD God of Israel which hath made one to sit on my seat this day, even mine eyes seeing it.'"

And Solomon said, "If he will be a child of virtue, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth. But and if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die for it."

And thereupon king Solomon sent and fetched him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance unto king Solomon. And Solomon said to him, "Get thee to thine house."

After that, Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, "Betokeneth thy coming peace?"

And he said, "It betokeneth peace." Then said he, "I have a matter to show thee." And she said, "Say on."

And he said, "Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel put their eyes on me, that I should reign. Howbeit, the kingdom was turned away and given to my brother, for it was appointed him of the LORD: and now I ask a petition of thee, whereof deny me not."

And she said unto him, "Tell what it is."

Then he said, "Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king - for he will not say thee nay - that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife."

And Bathsheba said, "Well, I will speak for thee unto the king."

Then she said, "I must desire a little petition of thee: say me not nay." And the king said unto her, "Ask on my mother: for I will not say thee nay."

And she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife."

And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, "Why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? But rather ask for him the kingdom, seeing he is mine elder brother! Even for him ask it; and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

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 kill thee, because thou hast borne the Ark of the Lord Jehovah before David my father, and because thou sufferest with my father in all his afflictions."

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."

And the king said, "Do even as he hath said: smite him and bury him, and take away the blood which Joab shed, causeless, from me and from the house of my father.

Then the king sent and called Shimei, and said to him, "Build thee a house in Jerusalem and dwell there and see that thou go not once thence any whither.

And Shimei said unto the king, "It is well said: as my lord the king hath said, so will his servant do." And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many a day.

And the king sent and called Shimei and said unto him, "Did I not adjure thee by the LORD, and testified unto thee saying, 'Be sure whensoever thou goest out and walkest abroad any whither, thou shalt die for it?' And thou answeredst me, 'It is good tidings that I have heard.'

And then the king said to Shimei, "Thou rememberest all the wickedness which thine heart knoweth that thou didst to David my father. The LORD therefore render again thy wickedness upon thine own head:

And in Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, "Ask what I shall give thee."

And Solomon said, "Thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy; according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and plainness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great mercy, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his seat: as it is come to pass this day.

Wherefore God said unto him, "Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked long life, neither hast asked riches, nor the lives of thine enemies, but hast asked the discretion to understand equity:

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

And the other woman said, "It is not so: But the living is my son, and the dead thine." And she said again, "Thou sayest untrue, for the dead is thy son, and the living mine." And thus they pleaded before the king.

Then said the king, "The one sayeth, 'This that is alive is my son, and the dead is thine.' And the other sayeth, 'Nay: But thy son is the dead and the live child is mine.'"

Then said the king, "Bring me a sword." And they brought a sword before the king.

And then the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give the one half to the one, and the other to the other."

Then spake the woman whose son lived, unto the king - for her motherly heart was kindled with pity over her son - and said, "I beseech thee, my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it." And the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor thine, but divide it."

Then the king answered and said, "Give her the living child and slay it not, for she is the mother thereof."

For he ruled in all the regions on the other side Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and also over all the kings on the other side the said Euphrates. And he had peace with all his servants on every side.

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day which hath set David a wise son over this mighty people."

Then spake Solomon, "The LORD said that he would dwell in darkness.

And he said, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which hath fulfilled with his hand, that he spake with his mouth unto David my father, saying,

But the LORD God said unto David my father, 'In that it was in thine heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well, that thou wast so minded.

and said, "LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or in the earth beneath, that keepest appointment and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their hearts:

that thine eyes may be open upon this house night and day; and upon the place, of which thou hast said, my name shall be there: that thou hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray in this place.

And the LORD said unto him, "I have heard thy prayer and intercession that thou madest before me, and have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put my name there forever and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

Wherefore he said, "What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother?" And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

the children of the said nations that were left in the land, because the children of Israel were not able to destroy them, did Solomon make tributaries unto this day.

Then she said to the king, "The word I heard in mine own land of thy deeds and wisdom, is true.

A chariot came out of Egypt for six hundred sicles of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And even so, by the hands of the said merchants, horses were brought out for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.

even of nations of which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, "See ye come not at them, nor let them come to you: for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless to such Solomon clave and fell in love with them.

whereupon the LORD said to Solomon, "Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept mine covenant and mine ordinances which I have commanded thee, therefore I will rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

And when Hadad heard say in Egypt that David was laid to sleep with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead also, he said to Pharaoh, "Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country."

Then said Pharaoh unto him, "What lackest thou here with me, that thou wouldest go to thine own country?" And he said, "Nothing: howbeit, let me go."

and said to Jeroboam, "Take thee ten pieces. For this sayeth the LORD God of Israel, 'Behold, I will rent the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee,

And he said unto them, "Depart yet for the space of three days, and then come again to me." And the people departed.

And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that stood before Solomon his father, while he yet lived, and said, "What counsel give ye to answer this people withal?"

And they said unto him, "If thou shalt be a servant unto this people this day and serve them and answer them and speak kind words to them: they will be thy servants forever."

And he said unto them, "What counsel give ye, to answer this people withal which have communed with me saying, 'Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us, lighter?'"

And the young men that were brought up with him, answered him, saying, "This people that have said unto thee, 'Thy father made our yoke heavy, make thou it us lighter' - thus answer them: 'My little finger shall be weightier than my father's loins!

And so the king hearkened not unto the people: for the turning away was of the LORD, to perform his saying, which the LORD said by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.