18 And Bathsheba said, Well; I will speak for thee unto the king.
19 Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king
rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat
to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.
20 Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king
said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay.
21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.
22 And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the
Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he ismine elder brother; even for
him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.
23 Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah
have not spoken this word against his own life.
24 Now therefore, asthe LORD liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of
David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death
this day.
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that
he died.
26 And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for
thou artworthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the
ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein
my father was afflicted.
27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfil the
word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after
Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the
altar.
29 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and,
behold, he isby the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon
him.
30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king,
Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again,
saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.
31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou
mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my
father.
32 And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more
righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing
thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether,
captain of the host of Judah.
33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for
ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be
peace for ever from the LORD.
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried
in his own house in the wilderness.
35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest
did the king put in the room of Abiathar.
36 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem,
and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.
37 For it shall be, thaton the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt

know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.
38 And Shimei said unto the king, The saying isgood: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy
servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away
unto Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants bein
Gath.
40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and
Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.
41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.
42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by
the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and
walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that
I have heard isgood.
43 Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged
thee with?
44 The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is
privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness
upon thine own head;
45 And king Solomon shall beblessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the
LORD for ever.
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that
he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and
brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the
house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of
the LORD, until those days.
3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed
and burnt incense in high places.
4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that wasthe great high place: a thousand
burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall
give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according
as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee;
and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his
throne, as it isthis day.
7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am
buta little child: I know not howto go out or come in.
8 And thy servant isin the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that
cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern
between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself
long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but
hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding
heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto

thee.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that
there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father
David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it wasa dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood
before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace
offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
16 Then came there two women, that wereharlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered
of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered
also: and we weretogether; there wasno stranger with us in the house, save we two in the
house.
19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and
laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had
considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living ismy son, and the dead isthy son. And this
said, No; but the dead isthy son, and the living ismy son. Thus they spake before the king.
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This ismy son that liveth, and thy son isthe dead: and the
other saith, Nay; but thy son isthe dead, and my son isthe living.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the
other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child wasunto the king, for her bowels yearned upon
her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other
said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, butdivide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she isthe
mother thereof.
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for
they saw that the wisdom of God wasin him, to do judgment.
1 So king Solomon was king over all Israel.
2 And these werethe princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest,
3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.
4 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada wasover the host: and Zadok and Abiathar werethe priests:
5 And Azariah the son of Nathan wasover the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was
principal officer, andthe king's friend:
6 And Ahishar wasover the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda wasover the tribute.
7 And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his
household: each man his month in a year made provision.
8 And these aretheir names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
9 The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan:
10 The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertainedSochoh, and all the land of Hepher:
11 The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to
wife:
12 Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertainedTaanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is
by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, evenunto the place that isbeyond