First Kings 2:9-21

⁹Now therefore do not let him go free from punishment. You are a wise man, and you will know what you ought to do to him. You will bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.”

¹⁰Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. He had reigned for seven years in Hebron and for thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹²Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peacefully?” He replied, “Peacefully.”

¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” So she replied, “Speak.”

¹⁵Adonijah said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected me to be king. But things changed, and the kingdom was given to my brother, for it was his from Yahweh.

¹⁶Now I have one request of you, and do not turn away from my face.” Bathsheba said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not turn away from your face, so that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

¹⁸Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king.”

¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a throne brought for the king's mother. She sat at his right hand.

²⁰Then she said, “I wish to ask one small request of you, for you will not turn away from my face.” The king answered her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away from your face.”

²¹She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.”