David’s Instruction to Solomon

2 When David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, ² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, ³ and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ⁴ that the Lord may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁵ “Moreover you know also what Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Ama′sa the son of Jether, whom he murdered, avenging^[a] in time of peace blood which had been shed in war, and putting innocent blood^[b] upon the girdle about my^[c] loins, and upon the sandals on my^[d] feet. ⁶ Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷ But deal loyally with the sons of Barzil′lai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Ab′salom your brother. ⁸ And there is also with you Shim′e-i the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahu′rim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahana′im; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”

Death of David

¹⁰ Then David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

Solomon Consolidates His Reign

¹³ Then Adoni′jah the son of Haggith came to Bathshe′ba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Say on.” ¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign; however the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶ And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Say on.” ¹⁷ And he said, “Pray ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite as my wife.” ¹⁸ Bathshe′ba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.”

¹⁹ So Bathshe′ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni′jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. ²⁰ Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” ²¹ She said, “Let Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite be given to Adoni′jah your brother as his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite for Adoni′jah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother, and on his side are Abi′athar^[e] the priest and Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah.” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adoni′jah his life! ²⁴ Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me, and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adoni′jah shall be put to death this day.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada; and he struck him down, and he died.

²⁶ And to Abi′athar the priest the king said, “Go to An′athoth, to your estate; for you deserve 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 shared in all the affliction of my father.” ²⁷ So Solomon expelled Abi′athar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ When the news came to Jo′ab—for Jo′ab had supported Adoni′jah although he had not supported Ab′salom—Jo′ab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ And when it was told King Solomon, “Jo′ab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” ³⁰ So Benai′ah came to the tent of the Lord, and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come forth.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benai′ah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Jo′ab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹ The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him; and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood which Jo′ab shed without cause. ³² The Lord will bring back his bloody deeds upon his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and slew with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Ama′sa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ So shall their blood come back upon the head of Jo′ab and upon the head of his descendants for ever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord for evermore.” ³⁴ Then Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada went up, and struck him down and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ³⁵ The king put Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada over the army in place of Jo′ab, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abi′athar.

³⁶ Then the king sent and summoned Shim′e-i, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go forth from there to any place whatever. ³⁷ For on the day you go forth, and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die; your blood shall be upon your own head.” ³⁸ And Shim′e-i said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shim′e-i dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shim′e-i’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Ma′acah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shim′e-i, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath,” ⁴⁰ Shim′e-i arose and saddled an ass, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; Shim′e-i went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹ And when Solomon was told that Shim′e-i had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, ⁴² the king sent and summoned Shim′e-i, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly admonish you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go forth and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I obey.’ ⁴³ Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and the commandment with which I charged you?” ⁴⁴ The king also said to Shim′e-i, “You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to David my father; so the Lord will bring back your evil upon your own head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died.

So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

3 ^[f]Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father; only, he sacrificed and burnt incense at the high places. ⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar. ⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream^[g] by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “Thou hast shown great and steadfast love to thy servant David my father, because he walked before thee in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward thee; and thou hast kept for him this great and steadfast love, and hast given him a son to sit on his throne this day. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. ⁹ Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern this thy great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

¹⁵ And 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 and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment

¹⁶ Then two harlots came to the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸ Then on the third day after I was delivered, this woman also gave birth; and we were alone; there was no one else with us in the house, only we two were in the house. ¹⁹ And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. ²⁰ And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your maidservant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I looked at it closely in the morning, behold, it was not the child that I had borne.” ²² But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴ And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. ²⁵ And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means slay it.” But the other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” ²⁷ Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means slay it; she is its mother.” ²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to render justice.

The Greatness and the Goodness of God

A Song of Praise. Of David.

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2 When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony^[a] of God in lofty words or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.^{[b] 3} And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, ⁵ that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The True Wisdom of God

⁶ Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as it is written,

¹⁰ God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹ For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. ¹³ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.^[c]

¹⁴ The unspiritual^[d] man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.