1 Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.

2 Why his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.

3 So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4 And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

6 And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why have you done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bore him after Absalom.

7 And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.

8 But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by Enrogel, and called all his brothers the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants:

10 But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.

11 Why Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith does reign, and David our lord knows it not?

12 Now therefore come, let me, I pray you, give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

13 Go and get you in to king David, and say to him, Did not you, my lord, O king, swear to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? why then does Adonijah reign?

14 Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.

15 And Bathsheba went in to the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered to the king.

16 And Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, What would you?

17 And she said to him, My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.

18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and now, my lord the king, you know it not:

19 And he has slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon your servant has he not called.

20 And you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.

22 And, see, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

23 And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

24 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?

25 For he is gone down this day, and has slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.

26 But me, even me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, has he not called.

27 Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you have not showed it to your servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

28 Then king David answered and said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

29 And the king swore, and said, As the LORD lives, that has redeemed my soul out of all distress,

30 Even as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.

31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.

32 And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.

33 The king also said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:

34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow you with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

35 Then you shall come up after him, that he may come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

36 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.

37 As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.

38 So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.

39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

40 And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

41 And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?

42 And while he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said to him, Come in; for you are a valiant man, and bring good tidings.

43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king.

44 And the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule:

45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

46 And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

47 And moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed himself on the bed.

48 And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.

49 And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.

50 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

51 And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon: for, see, he has caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

52 And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.

53 So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

Last Days of David and Accession of Solomon. This chapter with the following has many analogies with the court history of David (2 Samuel 11-20). The narrative bears every sign of an authentic account of actual events, told with complete impartiality, and without any attempt to comment favourably or otherwise on the events related. David is represented as a very aged man nursed by his youngest wife, Abishag the Shunammite ( 1Ki 1:3). Her beauty is especially noticed as it may have caused the death of David's son, Adonijah. Shunem, her native place, was a slope overlooking the plain of Esdraelon near Jezreel, and she is the Shulammite in the Song of Songs (Ca. 1Ki 6:13). The pivot around which all revolves is the succession. The chief claimant was Adonijah the son of Haggith ( 1Ki 1:9), whose conduct as well as his appearance ( 1Ki 1:6) recalls Absalom. Adonijah evidently considered himself the legitimate heir, and assumed a semi-royal state without rebuke from David. Like Absalom he made use of chariots, which are first mentioned as employed by the Hebrews in connexion with these two princes ( 1Ki 1:5; 2Sa 15:1, but see 1Sa 15:13 LXX). Adonijah was supported by David's older counsellors, Joab the son of Zeruiah, David's sister, and Abiathar, the sole representative of the house of Eli, who had escaped the massacre of the priests at Nob ( 1Sa 22:20 ff). Adonijah and his supporters evidently intended to force the aged David to acknowledge his claim. A great feast was held outside Jerusalem by the stone Zoheleth which is beside En-rogel (the fuller's well), probably near the village of Siloam ( 1Ki 1:9), to which Adonijah invited all the great men of Judah, but purposely excluded his brother Solomon, son of David's favourite wife Bathsheba, together with his supporters, Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah, the captain of David's bodyguard of Gibborim ( 2Sa 23:8 ff.). The plot was defeated by the machinations of Nathan, the prophet, who had so fearlessly rebuked David ( 2Sa 12:1), and Bathsheba. Nathan persuades the queen to go to the king and ask whether it was not his intention that Solomon should be his successor. He promised to come in afterwards to confirm her words. Observe the art with which the historian makes Bathsheba expand the instructions given her by Nathan ( 1Ki 1:17-21), and the prophet's diplomatic question as to whether the king had really appointed Adonijah ( 1Ki 1:24-27). The old king is aroused to vigorous action. He orders Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah to take Solomon at once, and make him ride on the royal mule ( 1Ki 1:33) to Gihon (p. 31), probably, like the stone Zoheleth, outside Jerusalem ( 2Ch 32:30; 2Ch 33:14), and in the valley of the Kidron. There Zadok the priest took the oil from the Tent Sanctuary in Jerusalem ( 2Sa 6:17; 2Sa 7:2; 1Ki 2:28), and anointed Solomon, proclaiming to the sound of the trumpet that he was king ( 1Ki 1:39). This is the only example in Israel of a son being anointed king in his father's lifetime. The RV has Tent and not Tabernacle here (as in Exo 33:11, because this sanctuary could not have been the Tabernacle of the Priestly Code, which, however, preserves the tradition that the anointing oil was kept in the sanctuary ( Exo 31:11; Exo 39:38). Though, according to 2Ch 1:3, the Tabernacle at this time was at Gibeon, the Tent in which the oil was kept together with the Ark ( 2Sa 7:2) must have been in Jerusalem. The only kings after Solomon who are said to have been anointed in Judah are Joash ( 2Ki 11:12), and Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah ( 2Ki 23:30). An anointed king was considered a sacrosanct person, the Messiah of Yahweh.

The scene now shifts to the banquet of Adonijah, which, since the revellers heard the trumpets, must have been near the place where Solomon was proclaimed. Jonathan the son of Abiathar ( 2Sa 15:36; 2Sa 17:7) announces the news ( 1Ki 1:43-49). Thereupon Adonijah's guests disperse in terror, and the pretender claims the protection of the altar ( Numbers 35*, Deu 19:1-13 *). Solomon, with a magnanimity rare in Eastern story, promises to spare his brother's life if he will prove himself a worthy man. Adonijah does homage to the new king, and is allowed to retire to his house ( 1Ki 1:50-53).