'King' in the Bible

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

His servants advised him, "A young virgin must be found for our master, the king, to take care of the king's needs and serve as his nurse. She can also sleep with you and keep our master, the king, warm."

So they looked through all Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

The young woman was very beautiful; she became the king's nurse and served him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.

Now Adonijah, son of David and Haggith, was promoting himself, boasting, "I will be king!" He managed to acquire chariots and horsemen, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard.

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Has it been reported to you that Haggith's son Adonijah has become king behind our master David's back?

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?'

While you are still there speaking to the king, I will arrive and verify your report."

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.'

But now, look, Adonijah has become king! But you, my master the king, are not even aware of it!

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."

Just then, while she was still speaking to the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

The king was told, "Nathan the prophet is here." Nathan entered and bowed before the king with his face to the floor.

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?"

King David responded, "Summon Bathsheba!" She came and stood before the king.

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.'"

Bathsheba bowed down to the king with her face to the floor and said, "May my master, King David, live forever!"

King David said, "Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada." They came before the king,

There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet and declare, 'Long live King Solomon!'

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."

Benaiah son of Jehoiada responded to the king: "So be it! May the Lord God of my master the king confirm it!

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!"

Jonathan replied to Adonijah: "No! Our master King David has made Solomon king.

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

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah fears you; see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'May King Solomon solemnly promise me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'"

King Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, "Go home."

He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine and all Israel considered me king. But then the kingdom was given to my brother, for the Lord decided it should be his.

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.

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why just request Abishag the Shunammite for him? Since he is my older brother, you should also request the kingdom for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!"

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!

King Solomon then sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he killed Adonijah.

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."

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.

The king told him, "Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father's family the guilt of Joab's murderous, bloody deeds.

The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to take his place at the head of the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest to take Abiathar's place.

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!

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."

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.'

Then the king said to Shimei, "You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David. The Lord will punish you for what you did.

But King Solomon will be empowered and David's dynasty will endure permanently before the Lord."

The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei. So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom.

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.

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.

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.

Furthermore, I am giving you what you did not request -- riches and honor so that you will be the greatest king of your generation.

Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

The other woman said, "No! My son is alive; your son is dead!" But the first woman replied, "No, your son is dead; my son is alive." Each presented her case before the king.

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 ordered, "Get me a sword!" So they placed a sword before the king.

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!"

The king responded, "Give the first woman the living child; don't kill him. She is the mother."

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.

King Solomon ruled over all Israel.

Azariah son of Nathan was supervisor of the district governors. Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king.

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.

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 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.

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.)

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

The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

King Solomon sent for Hiram of Tyre.

He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. He had the skill and knowledge to make all kinds of works of bronze. He reported to King Solomon and did all the work he was assigned.

Hiram also made basins, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on the Lord's temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.

and the pots, shovels, and bowls. All these items King Solomon assigned Hiram to make for the Lord's temple were made from polished bronze.

The king had them cast in earth foundries in the region of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

When King Solomon finished constructing the Lord's temple, he put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and other articles) in the treasuries of the Lord's temple.

All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month).

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.

Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there.

The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the Lord.

Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord's temple.

That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord's temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold all these offerings.

On the fifteenth day after the festival started, he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king and then went to their homes, happy and content because of all the good the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

King Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty cities in the region of Galilee, because Hiram had supplied Solomon with cedars, evergreens, and all the gold he wanted.

Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

Here are the details concerning the work crews King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord's temple, his palace, the terrace, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

(Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer. He burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, who had married Solomon.)

King Solomon also built ships in Ezion Geber, which is located near Elat in the land of Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

They sailed to Ophir, took from there four hundred twenty talents of gold, and then brought them to King Solomon.

Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king.

She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight was true!

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions."

She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.

With the timber the king made supports for the Lord's temple and for the royal palace and stringed instruments for the musicians. No one has seen so much of this fine timber to this very day.)

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, besides what he had freely offered her. Then she left and returned to her homeland with her attendants.