The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and His Word was in my tongue.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: he who rules over men justly, ruling in the fear of God,

Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For all my salvation, and all my desire, will He not make it grow?

But the man who shall touch them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. And they shall be utterly burned in their place.

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief of the three; he was called Adino the Eznite, because of the eight hundred he killed at one time.

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle; and the men of Israel had gone up;

But he stood in the middle of the ground and delivered it, and killed the Philistines. And Jehovah worked a great victory.

And three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Adullam. And the troop of the Philistines pitched in the Valley of the Giants.

And David was then in a stronghold, and the fort of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

And he said, Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this. Is it not the blood of the men who went in danger of their lives? And he would not drink it. These three mighty men did these things.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel, a son of a mighty man, great in deeds. He killed two lion-like men of Moab. He went down also and killed a lion in the middle of a pit in time of snow.

And he killed an Egyptian, a man of form. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear.

Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

And Joab said to the king, And may Jehovah your God add to the people however many they be, a hundred times as many, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?

And they passed over Jordan and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad, and to Jazer.

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand strong men who drew the sword. And the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

And David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And now, I beseech You, O Jehovah, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.

And David rose up in the morning. And the Word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

Go and say to David, So says Jehovah, I offer you three things. Choose one of them, so that I may do it to you.

And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon you and on your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? And advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.

And David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for His mercies are great. And do not let me fall into the hand of man.

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah turned from the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, Enough! And stay your hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing-place of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? I pray You, let Your hand be against me and against my father's house.

And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up! Rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and bowed before the king, his face to the ground.

And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to Jehovah, so that the plague may be stayed from the people.

And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

And King David was old, going on in days. And they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.

And his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her stand before the king, and let her nurse him, and let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may get heat.

And Adonijah killed sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the Stone of Serpents, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants.

And now come, please let me give you counsel, and save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

Go up and go in to King David, and say to him, My lord, O king, did you not swear to your handmaid, saying, Surely your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign?

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

And Bathsheba went in to the king into the room. And the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite served the king.

And he has slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army. But he has not called your servant Solomon.

And it will be, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, my son Solomon and I shall be offenders.

And lo, she was still talking with the king, and Nathan the prophet came in.

And they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. And he came in before the king, and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

Is this thing done by my lord the king, and have you not shown your servant who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

surely as I swore to you by Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place, even so I will do today.

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

And you shall come up after him, and let him come and sit upon my throne. For he shall reign in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

And he was still speaking, and behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said to him, Come in, for you are a mighty man and you bring good news.

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

And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

And also the king said, Blessed is Jehovah, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.

And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose and went and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

And it was told to Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon. For, lo, he has caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.

And Solomon said, If he becomes a son of virtue, not a hair of his head shall fall to the earth. But if wickedness shall be found in him, then he shall die.

And keep the charge of Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself,

that Jehovah may continue His Word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul saying, there shall not be a man of yours cut off from the throne of Israel.

And also you know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, that he murdered them, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle on his loins, and in his shoes on his feet.

And you shall do according to your wisdom and shall not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

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

And, behold, with you is Shimei the son of Gera, a 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 Jordan, and I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.

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

And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

And 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 Jehovah.

And now I ask one favor of you; do not turn away your face. And she said to him, Speak.

And Bathsheba came in to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother. And she sat on his right hand.

And she said, I desire one small favor of you. Do not turn away my face. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not turn away your face.

And now, as Jehovah lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as He spoke, Adonijah shall be put to death today.

And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And he fell on him so that he died.

And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all that in which my father was afflicted.

And Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Jehovah, so that he might fulfil the Word of Jehovah which He spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

And the report came to Joab. For Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of Jehovah, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

And it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of Jehovah, and, behold, he is by the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go fall on him.

And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him, so that you may take away the innocent blood which Joab shed, from me and from the house of my father.

And Jehovah shall return his blood on his own head, who fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David not knowing of it, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

Yea, He shall turn back their blood on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But on David, and on his seed, and on his house, and on his throne, there shall be peace forever from Jehovah.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him and killed him. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place. And the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

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

And Shimei said to the king, Your saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

And it happened at the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath.

And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, Did I not make you swear by Jehovah, and warn you, saying, In the day you go out, and you have gone anywhere, you certainly shall know that you shall surely die? And you said to me, The word I have heard is good.

And the king said to Shimei, You know all the wickedness that your heart knows, what you did to David my father. And Jehovah shall return your wickedness on your own head.

And the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell on him so that he died. And the kingdom was made sure in the hand of Solomon.

And Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he finished building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Only the people sacrificed in high places because there was no house built to the name of Jehovah until those days.

And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

And 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 Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, Ask what I shall give you!

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

And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father. And I am a little child; I do not know to go out or come in!

And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a numerous people who cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

And give to Your servant an understanding heart, to judge Your people, to discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, Your great people?

And the word was good in the eyes of Jehovah, that Solomon had asked this thing.

behold, I have done according to your words. Lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you, and after you none shall arise like you.

And 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.

And the one woman said, O my lord, this woman and I live in one house. And I bore a child with her in the house.

And it happened the third day after I gave birth, this woman bore a child also. And we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.

And this woman's child died in the night, because she laid on it.

And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant was sleeping, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

When I arose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. And when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.

And the other woman said, No, but the living is my son, and the dead is your son. And this one said, No, but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. So they spoke before the king.

And 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, and my son is the living.

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

And the woman whose son was the living child said to the king, for her womb yearned over her son. And she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor yours; divide it!

And the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is the mother of it.