David in Old Age

1 Now King David was old, advanced in age; and they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm. ² So his servants said to him, “Let them seek a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her ^[a]attend the king and become his nurse; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.” ³ So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the ^(A)Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The girl was very beautiful; and she became the king’s nurse and served him, but the king did not ^[b]cohabit with her.

⁵ Now ^(B)Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” So ^(C)he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen with fifty men to run before him. ⁶ His father had never ^[c]crossed him at any time by asking, “Why have you done so?” And he was also a very handsome man, and ^[d](D)he was born after Absalom. ^7 [e]He had conferred with ^(E)Joab the son of Zeruiah and with ^(F)Abiathar the priest; and following ^(G)Adonijah they helped him. ⁸ But ^(H)Zadok the priest, ^(I)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, ^(J)Nathan the prophet, ^(K)Shimei, Rei, and ^(L)the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the ^[f]stone of Zoheleth, which is beside ^(M)En-rogel; and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants. ¹⁰ But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, and ^(N)Solomon his brother.

Nathan and Bathsheba

¹¹ Then Nathan spoke to ^(O)Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it? ¹² So now come, please let me ^(P)give you counsel and save your life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go ^[g]at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn to your maidservant, saying, “^(Q)Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ ¹⁴ “Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went in to the king in the bedroom. Now ^(R)the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. ¹⁶ Then Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself ^[h]before the king. And the king said, “What ^[i]do you wish?” ¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your maidservant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘^(S)Surely your son Solomon shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸ Now, behold, Adonijah is king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know it. ^19 (T)He has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. ²⁰ As for you 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 about, ^(U)as soon as my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered ^[j]offenders.”

²² Behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ They told the king, saying, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And when he came in before the king, he prostrated himself ^[k]before the king with his face to the ground. ²⁴ Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? ^25 (V)For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons and the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they are eating and drinking before him; and they say, ‘^(W)Long live King Adonijah!’ ^26 (X)But me, even 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 done by my lord the king, and you have not shown to your ^[l]servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

²⁸ Then King David said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. ²⁹ The king vowed and said, “^(Y)As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ³⁰ surely as ^(Z)I vowed to you by the Lord the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place’; I will indeed do so this day.” ³¹ Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and prostrated herself ^[m]before the king and said, “^(AA)May my lord King David live forever.”

³² Then King David said, “Call to me ^(AB)Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came into the king’s presence. ³³ The king said to them, “Take with you ^(AC)the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to ^(AD)Gihon. ³⁴ Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet ^(AE)anoint him there as king over Israel, and ^(AF)blow the trumpet and say, ‘^(AG)Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne and be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.” ³⁶ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! Thus may the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say. ^37 (AH)As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and ^(AI)make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

Solomon Anointed King

³⁸ So ^(AJ)Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, ^(AK)the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to ^(AL)Gihon. ³⁹ Zadok the priest then ^(AM)took the horn of oil from the tent and ^(AN)anointed Solomon. Then they ^(AO)blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “^(AP)Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ All the people went up after him, and the people ^[n]were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth ^[o]shook at their noise.

⁴¹ Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why ^[p]is the city making such an uproar?” ⁴² While he was still speaking, behold, ^(AQ)Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, “Come in, for ^(AR)you are a valiant man and bring good news.” ⁴³ But Jonathan replied to Adonijah, “No! Our lord King David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴ The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; and they have made him ride on the king’s mule. ⁴⁵ Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from there rejoicing, ^(AS)so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise which you have heard. ⁴⁶ Besides, ^(AT)Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. ⁴⁷ Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May ^(AU)your God make the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!’ And ^(AV)the king bowed himself on the bed. ⁴⁸ The king has also said thus, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who ^(AW)has granted one to sit on my throne today while my own eyes see it.’”

⁴⁹ Then all the guests of Adonijah were terrified; and they arose and each went on his way. ⁵⁰ And Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, and he arose, went and ^(AX)took hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Now it was told Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” ⁵² Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, ^(AY)not one of his hairs will fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he will die.” ⁵³ So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself ^[q]before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

⁴ And ^[a]he was accompanied by Sopater of ^(A)Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by ^(B)Aristarchus and Secundus of the ^(C)Thessalonians, and ^(D)Gaius of ^(E)Derbe, and ^(F)Timothy, and ^(G)Tychicus and ^(H)Trophimus of ^[b](I)Asia. ⁵ But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for ^(J)us at ^(K)Troas. ^6 (L)We sailed from ^(M)Philippi after ^(N)the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at ^(O)Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

⁷ On ^(P)the first day of the week, when ^(Q)we were gathered together to ^(R)break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his ^[c]message until midnight. ⁸ There were many ^(S)lamps in the ^(T)upper room where we were gathered together. ⁹ And there was a young man named ^[d]Eutychus sitting ^[e]on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and ^(U)fell upon him, and after embracing him, he ^(V)said, “^[f]Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ When he had gone back up and had ^(W)broken the bread and ^[g]eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. ¹² They took away the boy alive, and were ^[h]greatly comforted.

Troas to Miletus

¹³ But ^(X)we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go ^[i]by land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵ Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to ^(Y)Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past ^(Z)Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in ^[j](AA)Asia; for he was hurrying ^(AB)to be in Jerusalem, if possible, ^(AC)on the day of Pentecost.

Farewell to Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent to ^(AD)Ephesus and called to him ^(AE)the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, ^(AF)from the first day that I set foot in ^[k]Asia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me ^[l]through ^(AG)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(AH)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and ^[m]from house to house, ²¹ solemnly ^(AI)testifying to both Jews and Greeks of ^(AJ)repentance toward God and ^(AK)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, bound by the ^[n]Spirit, ^(AL)I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(AM)the Holy Spirit solemnly ^(AN)testifies to me in every city, saying that ^(AO)bonds and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(AP)I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may ^(AQ)finish my course and ^(AR)the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to ^(AS)testify solemnly of the gospel of ^(AT)the grace of God.

²⁵ “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about ^(AU)preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. ²⁶ Therefore, I ^[o]testify to you this day that ^(AV)I am ^[p]innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I ^(AW)did not shrink from declaring to you the whole ^(AX)purpose of God. ²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all ^(AY)the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you ^[q]overseers, to shepherd ^(AZ)the church of God which ^(BA)He ^[r]purchased ^[s]with His own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure ^(BB)savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing ^(BC)the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away ^(BD)the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of ^(BE)three years I did not cease to admonish each one ^(BF)with tears. ³² And now I ^(BG)commend you to God and to ^(BH)the word of His grace, which is able to ^(BI)build you up and to give you ^(BJ)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (BK)I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that ^(BL)these hands ministered to my own needs and to the ^(BM)men who were with me. ³⁵ In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ When he had said these things, he ^(BN)knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^[t]they began to weep aloud and ^[u](BO)embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, ^38 [v]grieving especially over ^(BP)the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were ^(BQ)accompanying him to the ship.

A Psalm of Supplication and Trust.

A Prayer of David.