1 Kings 2:13-25

Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

Adonijah’s Foolish Request

¹³ Now Adonijah son of Haggith^(A) came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, ‘Do you come peacefully? ’

‘Peacefully,’ he replied,^{(B) 14} and then asked, ‘May I talk with you? ’^[a]

‘Go ahead,’ she answered.

¹⁵ ‘You know the kingship was mine,’^(C) he said. ‘All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother,^(D) for the Lord gave it to him.^{(E) 16} So now I have just one request of you; don’t turn me down.’^[b]

She said to him, ‘Go on.’

¹⁷ He replied, ‘Please speak to King Solomon since he won’t turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite^(F) as a wife.’

¹⁸ ‘Very well,’ Bathsheba replied. ‘I will speak to the king for you.’

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king’s mother.^(G) So she sat down at his right hand.^(H)

²⁰ Then she said, ‘I have just one small request of you. Don’t turn me down.’

‘Go ahead and ask, mother,’ the king replied, ‘for I won’t turn you down.’

²¹ So she said, ‘Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.’

²² King Solomon answered his mother, ‘Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother,^(I) you might as well ask the kingship for him,^(J) for the priest Abiathar, and for Joab son of Zeruiah.’^{[c](K) 23} Then King Solomon took an oath by the Lord: ‘May God punish me and do so severely^(L) if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his life. ²⁴ And now, as the Lord lives – the one who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as he promised^(M) – I swear Adonijah will be put to death today! ’ ²⁵ Then King Solomon dispatched Benaiah son of Jehoiada,^(N) who struck down Adonijah, and he died.