¹⁴ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm^[a] your words.”

Final Warnings

13 ^(A)This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established ^(B)by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ^(A)‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸ And now, behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. ^19 (B)He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, ^(C)Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but ^(D)Solomon your servant he has not invited. ²⁰ And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king ^(E)sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ And they told the king, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king, with his face to the ground. ²⁴ And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? ²⁵ For he has gone down this day and ^(F)has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders^[a] of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ^(G)‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ^26 (H)But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he has not invited. ²⁷ Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”