1 Kings 1:28-2:39

New King James Version

David Proclaims Solomon King^(A)

²⁸Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. ²⁹And the king took an oath and said, ^(B)“As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress, ³⁰^(C)just as I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so I certainly will do this day.”

³¹Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and paid homage to the king, and said, ^(D)“Let my lord King David live forever!”

³²And King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. ³³The king also said to them, ^(E)“Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own ^(F)mule, and take him down to ^(G)Gihon.^[a] ³⁴There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet ^(H)anoint him king over Israel; and ^(I)blow the horn, and say, ^[b]‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵Then 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.”

³⁶Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, ^(J)“Amen! May the Lord God of my lord the king say so too. ³⁷^(K)As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may He be with Solomon, and ^(L)make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

³⁸So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, ^(M)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the ^(N)Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and took him to Gihon. ³⁹Then Zadok the priest took a horn of ^(O)oil from the tabernacle and ^(P)anointed Solomon. And they blew the horn, ^(Q)and all the people said, ^[c]“Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.

⁴¹Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the horn, he said, “Why is the city in such a noisy uproar?” ⁴²While he was still speaking, there came ^(R)Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest. And Adonijah said to him, “Come in, for ^(S)you are a prominent man, and bring good news.”

⁴³Then Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “No! Our lord King David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴The king has 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. ⁴⁵So Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. ⁴⁶Also Solomon ^(T)sits on the throne of the kingdom. ⁴⁷And moreover the king’s servants have gone to bless our lord King David, saying, ^(U)‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.’ ^(V)Then the king bowed himself on the bed. ⁴⁸Also the king said thus, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has ^(W)given one to sit on my throne this day, while my eyes see ^(X)it!’ ”

⁴⁹So all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid, and arose, and each one went his way.

⁵⁰Now Adonijah was afraid of Solomon; so he arose, and went and ^(Y)took hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹And it was told Solomon, saying, “Indeed Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; for look, 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.’ ”

⁵²Then Solomon said, “If he proves himself a worthy man, ^(Z)not one hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” ⁵³So King Solomon sent them to bring him down from the altar. And he came and fell down before King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

David’s Instructions to Solomon

2 Now ^(AA)the days of David drew near that he should die, and he ^[d]charged Solomon his son, saying: ²^(AB)“I go the way of all the earth; ^(AC)be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. ³And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may ^(AD)prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ⁴that the Lord may ^(AE)fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ^(AF)‘If your sons take heed to their way, to ^(AG)walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ^(AH)‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁵“Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah ^(AI)did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to ^(AJ)Abner the son of Ner and ^(AK)Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. And he shed the blood of war in peacetime, and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. ⁶Therefore do ^(AL)according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.

⁷“But show kindness to the sons of ^(AM)Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who ^(AN)eat at your table, for so ^(AO)they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸“And see, you have with you ^(AP)Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a malicious curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But ^(AQ)he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and ^(AR)I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹Now therefore, ^(AS)do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him; but ^(AT)bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”

Death of David^(AU)

¹⁰So ^(AV)David ^[e]rested with his fathers, and was buried in ^(AW)the City of David. ¹¹The period that David ^(AX)reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ¹²^(AY)Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was ^(AZ)firmly established.

Solomon Executes Adonijah

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

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

And she said, “Say it.”

¹⁵Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was ^(BB)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 ^(BC)it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶Now I ask one petition of you; do not ^[f]deny me.”

And she said to him, “Say it.”

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

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

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

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

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

²²And 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 ^(BG)older brother—for him, and for ^(BH)Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, ^(BI)“May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! ²⁴Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a ^[h]house for me, as He ^(BJ)promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

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

Abiathar Exiled, Joab Executed

²⁶And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to ^(BL)Anathoth, to your own fields, for ^[i]you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, ^(BM)because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” ²⁷So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might ^(BN)fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

²⁸Then news came to Joab, for Joab ^(BO)had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and ^(BP)took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹And King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord; there he is, by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, ^(BQ)strike him down.” ³⁰So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ^(BR)‘Come out!’ ”

And he said, “No, but I will die here.” And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

³¹Then the king said to him, ^(BS)“Do as he has said, and strike him down and bury him, ^(BT)that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. ³²So the Lord ^(BU)will return his ^[j]blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous ^(BV)and better than he, and killed them with the sword—^(BW)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and ^(BX)Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. ³³Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and ^(BY)upon the head of his descendants forever. ^(BZ)But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.”

³⁴So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ³⁵The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put ^(CA)Zadok the priest in the place of ^(CB)Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

³⁶Then the king sent and called for ^(CC)Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. ³⁷For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross ^(CD)the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; ^(CE)your ^[k]blood shall be on your own head.”

³⁸And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to ^(CF)Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, your slaves are in Gath!”