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I. The Reign of Solomon
Chapter 1
David’s Old Age. When King David was old and advanced in years, though they covered him with blankets he could not get warm.
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However, Zadok the priest, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei, and David’s warriors did not support Adonijah.
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Solomon Proclaimed King. Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother: “Have you not heard that Adonijah, son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David does not know?
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Go, visit King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord king, swear to your handmaid: Your son Solomon shall be king after me; it is he who shall sit upon my throne? Why, then, has Adonijah become king?’
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King David answered, “Call Bathsheba here.” When she entered the king’s presence and stood before him,
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Bowing to the floor in homage to the king, Bathsheba said, “May my lord, King David, live forever!”
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Then King David said, “Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, son of Jehoiada.” When they had entered the king’s presence,
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As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne even greater than that of my lord, King David!”
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So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites went down, and mounting Solomon on King David’s mule, escorted him to Gihon.
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Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Hardly! Our lord, King David, has made Solomon king.
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and moreover the king’s servants have come to pay their respects to our lord, King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than your name, his throne greater than your throne!’ And the king in his bed did homage.
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Chapter 2
David’s Last Instructions and Death. When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to Solomon his son:
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David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David.
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David was king over Israel for forty years: he was king seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. The Kingdom Made Secure.
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Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingship was established.
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And now, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and made for me a house as he promised, this day shall Adonijah be put to death.”
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The king said to Abiathar the priest: “Go to your estate in Anathoth. Though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father and shared in all the hardships my father endured.”
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The Lord will bring blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men better and more just than himself, and slew them with the sword without my father David’s knowledge: Abner, son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa, son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.
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Their blood will be upon the head of Joab and his descendants. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.”
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And the king said to Shimei: “In your heart you know very well the evil that you did to David my father. Now the Lord is bringing your own evil upon your head.
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But King Solomon shall be blessed, and David’s throne shall be established before the Lord forever.”
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Chapter 3
Early Promise of Solomon’s Reign. Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He married the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the City of David, until he should finish building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.
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Although Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, he offered sacrifice and burned incense on the high places.
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Solomon answered: “You have shown great kindness to your servant, David my father, because he walked before you with fidelity, justice, and an upright heart; and you have continued this great kindness toward him today, giving him a son to sit upon his throne.
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Now, Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed David my father; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act—