David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,^[a] when kings^[b] go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. ³ David sent someone and inquired about the woman. The report came back: “Isn’t this Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ So David sent messengers to take her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her monthly period.) Then she returned home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David.

“I’m pregnant,” she said.

⁶ Then David sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going. ⁸ Then David told Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master’s servants. He didn’t go down to his own house. ¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah didn’t go down to his own house,” so David asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ “The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents,” Uriah told David. “And my master Joab and my master’s troops are camping in the open field. How^[c] could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life,^[d] I will not do that!”

¹² Then David told Uriah, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day ¹³ David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, alongside his master’s servants, but he did not go down to his own home.

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ He wrote in the letter, “Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die.”

¹⁶ So as Joab was attacking the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew there were strong warriors. ¹⁷ When the city’s soldiers came out and attacked Joab, some of the people from David’s army fell. Uriah the Hittite was also killed. ¹⁸ Joab sent a complete report of the battle to David.

¹⁹ “When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king,” Joab instructed the messenger, ²⁰ “if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Jerubbaal’s son Abimelech?^[e] didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.’”

²² So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.

²³ “The men overpowered us,” the messenger told David. “They came out against us in the open field, but we fought against them^[f] up to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Archers shot down on your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants died. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.”

²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t be upset about this because the sword is that way: taking the life of this person or that person. Continue attacking the city and destroy it!’ Encourage Joab!”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ After the time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her back to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

But what David had done was evil in the Lord’s eyes.

Nathan pronounces God’s judgment

12 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor. ² The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn’t willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor.”

⁵ David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the one who did this is demonic!^{[g] 6} He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over^[h] because he did this and because he had no compassion.”

⁷ “You are that man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from Saul’s power. ⁸ I gave your master’s house^[i] to you, and gave his wives into your embrace. I gave you the house^[j] of Israel and Judah. If that was too little, I would have given even more. ⁹ Why have you despised the Lord’s word by doing what is evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife as your own. You used the Ammonites to kill him. ¹⁰ Because of that, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own, the sword will never leave your own house.

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says: I am making trouble come against you from inside your own family. Before your very eyes I will take your wives away and give them to your friend, and he will have sex with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did what you did secretly, but I will do what I am doing before all Israel in the light of day.”

¹³ “I’ve sinned against the Lord!” David said to Nathan.

“The Lord has removed your sin,” Nathan replied to David. “You won’t die. ¹⁴ However, because you have utterly disrespected the Lord^[k] by doing this, the son born to you will definitely die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.

Bathsheba’s child dies

The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick. ¹⁶ David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground. ¹⁷ The senior servants of his house approached^[l] him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat with them either.

¹⁸ On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. “David wouldn’t listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive,” they said. “How can we tell him the child has died? He’ll do something terrible!”

¹⁹ But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died.

“Is the child dead?” David asked his servants.

“Yes,” they said, “he is dead.”

²⁰ Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the Lord’s house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.

²¹ “Why are you acting this way?” his servants asked. “When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch,^[m] but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!”

²² David replied, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The Lord may have mercy on me and let the child live. ²³ But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won’t come back to me.”

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon.^[n] The Lord loved him ²⁵ and sent word by the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah^[o] because of the Lord’s grace.^[p]

Defeat of the Ammonites

²⁶ Meanwhile, Joab fought the Ammonites at Rabbah and captured the royal city. ²⁷ Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured the city’s water supply.^{[q] 28} So gather the rest of the troops, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I will capture the city myself, and it will be named after me.”

²⁹ So David gathered all the troops, marched to Rabbah, fought against it, and captured it. ³⁰ David took Milcom’s^[r] crown off his head. It weighed one kikkar of gold and was set with a valuable stone. It was placed on David’s head. The amount of loot David took from the city was huge. ³¹ He brought out the people who were in the city and put them to work making bricks. David demolished the city with saws, iron picks, and axes;^[s] he did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.

David and Abishag

1 King David had become very old. His servants covered him with blankets, but he couldn’t stay warm. ² They said to him, “Allow us to find a young woman for our master the king. She will serve the king and take care of him by lying beside our master the king and keeping him warm.” ³ So they looked in every corner of Israel until they found Abishag from Shunem. They brought her to the king. ⁴ She was very beautiful. She cared for the king and served him, but the king didn’t have sex with her.

Adonijah’s rebellion

⁵ Adonijah, Haggith’s son, bragged about himself and said, “I’ll rule as king myself.” He got his own chariot and horses with fifty runners to go in front. ⁶ Now Adonijah’s father had never given him direction; he never questioned why Adonijah did what he did. He was very handsome and was born after Absalom. ⁷ He took advice from Joab, Zeruiah’s son, and from the priest Abiathar. They assisted Adonijah. ⁸ But Zadok the priest, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, Shimei and his friends, and David’s veterans didn’t join Adonijah. ⁹ So Adonijah prepared lamb, oxen, and fattened cattle at the Stone of Zoheleth, next to En-rogel. He invited his brothers (the royal princes) and all the citizens of Judah who were the royal servants to come. ¹⁰ But he didn’t invite the prophet Nathan, Benaiah, David’s veterans, or his brother Solomon.

¹¹ Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Did you hear that Adonijah, Haggith’s son, has become king, but our master David doesn’t know about it? ¹² Let me give you some advice on how you and your son Solomon can survive this. ¹³ Go to King David and say, ‘Didn’t my master the king swear to your servant, “Your son Solomon will certainly rule after me. He will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ ¹⁴ While you are speaking there with the king, I’ll come along and support your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went to the king in his bedroom. The king was very old, and Abishag from Shunem was serving the king. ¹⁶ Bathsheba bowed down on her face before the king.

The king asked, “What do you want?”

¹⁷ She said to him, “Your Majesty, you swore by the Lord your God to your servant, ‘Your son Solomon will certainly rule after me. He will sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸ But now, look, Adonijah has become king, and my master the king doesn’t know about it. ¹⁹ He has prepared large quantities of oxen, fattened cattle, and lamb. He has invited all the royal princes as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the general. However, he didn’t invite your servant Solomon. ²⁰ As for you, my master the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you to tell them who will follow you on the throne of my master the king. ²¹ When my master the king lies down with his ancestors, then I and my son Solomon will become outlaws.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, the prophet Nathan arrived. ²³ The king was informed, “The prophet Nathan is here.” Then Nathan came in before the king and bowed his face to the ground. ²⁴ He said, “My master the king, you must have said, ‘Adonijah will become king after me and will sit on my throne.’ ²⁵ Indeed, today he went down and prepared oxen, fattened cattle, and lamb in large numbers. He invited all the royal princes, the generals, and Abiathar the priest. They are eating and drinking with him, and they said, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ²⁶ Adonijah didn’t invite me, your servant, Zadok the priest, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, or your servant Solomon. ²⁷ If this message was from my master the king, you didn’t make it known to your servant. Who should follow you on the throne of my master the king?”

²⁸ King David answered, “Bring me Bathsheba.” She came and stood before the king. ²⁹ The king made a solemn pledge and said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued me from every trouble, ³⁰ regarding what I swore to you by the Lord, Israel’s God, ‘Your son Solomon will certainly succeed me; he will sit on the throne after me’—I’ll see that it happens today.”

³¹ Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground. She honored the king and said, “May my master King David live forever!”

³² King David said, “Bring me Zadok the priest, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son.” They came to the king, ³³ who said to them, “Take with you the servants of your masters. Put my son Solomon on my mule and bring him down to Gihon. ³⁴ There Zadok the priest and the prophet Nathan will anoint him king over Israel. Blow the ram’s horn and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ You will follow him. He will enter and sit on my throne, and so he will succeed me as king. I have appointed him to become ruler over Israel and Judah.”

³⁶ Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, responded to the king, “Yes, may it happen as the Lord, the God of my king, says. ³⁷ Just as the Lord was with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon. May his throne be even greater than the throne of my master King David.” ³⁸ Zadok the priest, the prophet Nathan, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule. They led him to Gihon. ³⁹ Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the ram’s horn, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ All the people followed him playing flutes and celebrating. The ground shook at their noise.

⁴¹ Adonijah and all his invited guests heard this when they had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn, he said, “What’s that noise coming from the city?” ⁴² While he was still speaking, Jonathan, Abiathar the priest’s son, arrived.

Adonijah said, “Come on in! You are an honest man and will bring a good report.”

⁴³ Jonathan replied to Adonijah, “No! Our master King David has made Solomon king! ⁴⁴ To support him, the king sent along Zadok the priest; the prophet Nathan; Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son; and the Cherethites and the Pelethites. They’ve put Solomon on the royal mule. ⁴⁵ Zadok the priest and the prophet Nathan have anointed him king at Gihon. They went up from there celebrating so that the city was thrown into a commotion. That is the sound you heard. ⁴⁶ There’s more: Solomon has taken over the throne of the kingdom. ⁴⁷ The royal attendants blessed our master King David: ‘May your God make Solomon’s name better than your name. May God elevate his throne above your throne.’”

The king then worshipped on his bed ⁴⁸ and said, “Bless Israel’s God, the Lord, who today has set my son^[a] on my throne, and has allowed my eyes to see it.”

⁴⁹ Trembling with fear, all of Adonijah’s guests got up and fled, each going a different way. ⁵⁰ Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he got up and went to grab hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Solomon was told, “Look! Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and has grabbed the horns of the altar. He’s saying, ‘King Solomon must swear to me first that he won’t execute his servant with the sword.’”

⁵² Solomon said, “If he shows himself to be an honorable person, then not a hair of his head will be harmed. But if any evil is found in him, he will die.” ⁵³ King Solomon sent word and had him brought down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, “Go home!”

David’s last words

2 David’s time was coming to an end. So he commanded Solomon his son, ² “I’m following the path that the whole earth takes. Be strong and be a man. ³ Guard what is owed to the Lord your God, walking in his ways and observing his laws, his commands, his judgments, and his testimonies, just as it is written in the Instruction from Moses. In this way you will succeed in whatever you do and wherever you go. ⁴ So also the Lord will confirm the word he spoke to me: ‘If your children will take care to walk before me faithfully, with all their heart and all their being, then one of your own children will never fail to be on the throne of Israel.’ ⁵ You should know what Joab, Zeruiah’s son, has done to me and what he did to the two generals of Israel, Abner, Ner’s son, and Amasa, Jether’s son. He murdered them, spilling blood at peacetime and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet. ⁶ So act wisely: Don’t allow him to die a peaceful death. ⁷ As for Barzillai’s sons from Gilead, show them kindness. Let them eat with you. When I was running away from your brother Absalom, they came to me. ⁸ Now as for this Shimei, Gera’s son—a Benjaminite from Bahurim—who is with you, he cursed me viciously when I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, ‘Surely I won’t execute you with the sword.’ ⁹ But you don’t need to excuse him. You are wise and know what to do to him. Give him a violent death.”

¹⁰ Then David lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. ¹¹ He ruled over Israel forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Solomon secures his throne

¹² Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his royal power was well established. ¹³ Adonijah, Haggith’s son, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She said, “Are you coming in peace?”

He said, “Yes. ¹⁴ I have something to say to you.”

She said, “Say it.”

¹⁵ He said, “You know how the kingdom was mine. All Israel had appointed me as their king. Then suddenly the kingdom went to my brother as the Lord willed. ¹⁶ Now I have just one request of you. Don’t refuse me!”

She said to him, “Go on.”

¹⁷ Adonijah continued, “Ask King Solomon to let me marry Abishag from Shunem—he won’t refuse you.”

¹⁸ Bathsheba said, “Okay; I’ll speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk with him about Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her and bowed low to her. Then he returned to his throne and had a throne set up for the queen mother. She sat to his right. ²⁰ She said, “I have just one small request for you. Don’t refuse me.”

The king said to her, “Mother, ask me. I won’t refuse you.”

²¹ “Let Abishag from Shunem be married to your brother Adonijah,” she said.

²² King Solomon replied to his mother, “Why ask only for Abishag from Shunem for Adonijah? Why not ask for the entire kingdom for him? After all, he is my older brother and has the support of Abiathar the priest and Joab, Zeruiah’s son.” ²³ King Solomon swore by the Lord, “May God do to me as he sees fit! Adonijah has made this request at the cost of his life! ²⁴ Now, as surely as the Lord lives—the one who supported me, put me on the throne of my father David, and provided a royal house for me exactly as he promised—Adonijah will be executed today.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son. He attacked Adonijah, and Adonijah died.

²⁶ The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to your fields at Anathoth, because you are a condemned man. However, I won’t kill you today because you carried the Lord’s chest in front of my father David and because you shared in all my father’s sufferings.” ²⁷ So Solomon expelled Abiathar from the Lord’s priesthood in order to fulfill the Lord’s word that was spoken against Eli’s family at Shiloh.

²⁸ Now the news reached Joab because he had supported Adonijah, though he hadn’t supported Absalom. Joab ran to the Lord’s tent and grabbed the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the Lord’s tent and was now beside the altar. So Solomon sent Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, instructing him, “Go. Attack Joab!”

³⁰ Benaiah came to the Lord’s tent and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’”

Joab said, “No! I’d rather die here.”

Benaiah sent a report back to the king: “This is what Joab said and how he answered me.”

³¹ The king said to him, “Do as he said. Attack him and then bury him. In doing this, you will remove from me and from my father’s royal house the guilt over the innocent blood that Joab shed. ³² May the Lord return that bloodguilt back on his own head for attacking the two men who were better and more righteous than he was. He murdered those two with the sword: Abner, Ner’s son and Israel’s general, and Amasa, Jether’s son and Judah’s general. But my father David didn’t know about it. ³³ May the bloodguilt for their deaths return on Joab’s head and on the head of his family line forever. But may the Lord’s peace be on David, his family, and his royal house forever.” ³⁴ So Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, went and attacked Joab and killed him.

Joab was buried at his home in the wilderness. ³⁵ In his place, the king gave leadership of the army to Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son. The king put the priest Zadok in Abiathar’s position. ³⁶ Then he sent for Shimei and said, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and stay in the city. Don’t leave to go anywhere else. ³⁷ If you try to leave, be advised that on the day you cross the Kidron Valley you will most certainly die. Your bloodguilt will be on your own head.”

³⁸ Shimei said to the king, “This is a good idea. Your servant will do just what my master the king said.” So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

³⁹ After three years, two of Shimei’s servants fled to the king of Gath, Achish, Maacah’s son. Shimei was informed, “Your servants are now in Gath.” ⁴⁰ Shimei saddled his donkey and went to Achish in Gath to look for his servants. Shimei then brought his servants back from Gath. ⁴¹ Solomon was told that Shimei had left Jerusalem for Gath and then returned.

⁴² The king sent for Shimei and asked him, “Didn’t I make you swear a solemn pledge by the Lord? And didn’t I swear to you, ‘If you try to leave and go anywhere, be advised that on that very day you will most certainly die’? You said to me, ‘This is a good idea. I agree to it.’ ⁴³ Why didn’t you keep your solemn promise to the Lord and the command that I gave you?” ⁴⁴ The king said further, “You know quite well all the evil that you did to my father David. May the Lord return your evil on your own head. ⁴⁵ However, may King Solomon be blessed and David’s throne be secure before the Lord forever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, who went and attacked Shimei, and he died.

In these ways royal power was handed over to Solomon.