¹¹ So Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of ^(A)Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it?

¹² Come, please, let me now give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went into the chamber to the king. (Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.) ¹⁶ And Bathsheba bowed and did homage to the king. Then the king said, “What is your wish?”

¹⁷ Then she said to him, “My lord, ^(A)you swore by the Lord your God to your maidservant, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸ So now, look! Adonijah has become king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know about it.

³² And King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. ³³ The king also said to them, ^(A)“Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own ^(B)mule, and take him down to ^(C)Gihon.^{[a] 34} There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet ^(D)anoint him king over Israel; and ^(E)blow the horn, and say, ^[b]‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.”

Solomon Executes Adonijah

¹³ Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, ^(A)“Do you come peaceably?”

And he said, “Peaceably.” ¹⁴ Moreover he said, “I have something to say to you.”

And she said, “Say it.”

¹⁵ Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was ^(B)mine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother’s; for ^(C)it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶ Now I ask one petition of you; do not ^[a]deny me.”

And she said to him, “Say it.”

¹⁷ Then he said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me ^(D)Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”

¹⁸ So Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak for you to the king.”

¹⁹ Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and ^(E)bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; ^(F)so she sat at his right hand. ²⁰ Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not ^[b]refuse me.”

And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

²¹ So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”

²² And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my ^(G)older brother—for him, and for ^(H)Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, ^(I)“May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! ²⁴ Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a ^[c]house for me, as He ^(J)promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

²⁵ So King Solomon sent by the hand of ^(K)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.