The First Book Melakhim, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered
him with clothes, but he got no heat. {1:2} Therefore 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 cherish him; and let her lie in
your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm. {1:3} So they sought
for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Yisra'el, and
found Avishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. {1:4} The
young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and
ministered to him; but the king didn't know her intimately. {1:5} Then
Adoniyahu the son of Haggit exalted himself, saying, I will be king:
and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before
him. {1:6} His father had not displeased him at any time in saying,
Why have you done so? and he was also a very goodly man; and he was
born after Avshalom. {1:7} He conferred with Yo'av the son of
Tzeru'yah, and with Avyatar the [1>]Kohen[<1]: and they following
Adoniyahu helped him. {1:8} But Tzadok the [2>]Kohen[<2], and Benayah
the son of Yehoiada, and Natan the prophet, and Shim`i, and Re`i, and
the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adoniyahu. {1:9}
Adoniyahu killed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zochelet,
which is beside `En-Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king's
sons, and all the men of Yehudah, the king's servants: {1:10} but
Natan the prophet, and Benayah, and the mighty men, and Shlomo his
brother, he didn't call. {1:11} Then Natan spoke to Bat-Sheva the
mother of Shlomo, saying, Haven't you heard that Adoniyahu the son of
Haggit reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it? {1:12} Now
therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your
own life, and the life of your son Shlomo. {1:13} Go and get you in to
king David, and tell him, Didn't you, my lord, king, swear to your
handmaid, saying, Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and
he shall sit on my throne? why then does Adoniyahu reign? {1:14}
Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in
after you, and confirm your words. {1:15} Bat-Sheva went in to the
king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Avishag the
Shunammite was ministering to the king. {1:16} Bat-Sheva bowed, and
did obeisance to the king. The king said, What would you? {1:17} She
said to him, My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your handmaid,
[saying], Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall
sit on my throne. {1:18} Now, behold, Adoniyahu reigns; and you, my
lord the king, don't know it: {1:19} and he has slain oxen and
fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the
king, and Avyatar the [3>]Kohen[<3], and Yo'av the captain of the
host; but he hasn't called Shlomo your servant. {1:20} You, my lord
the king, the eyes of all Yisra'el are on you, that you should tell
them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. {1:21}
Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his
fathers, that I and my son Shlomo shall be counted offenders. {1:22}
Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Natan the prophet came in.
{1:23} They told the king, saying, Behold, Natan the prophet. When he
was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his
face to the ground. {1:24} Natan said, My lord, king, have you said,
Adoniyahu shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? {1:25}
For he is gone down this day, and has slain oxen and fatlings and
sheep in abundance, and has called all the king's sons, and the
captains of the host, and Avyatar the [4>]Kohen[<4]; and, behold, they
are eating and drinking before him, and say, [Long] live king
Adoniyahu. {1:26} But he hasn't called me, even me your servant, and
Tzadok the [5>]Kohen[<5], and Benayah the son of Yehoiada, and your
servant Shlomo. {1:27} Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you
haven't shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord
the king after him? {1:28} Then king David answered, Call to me
Bat-Sheva. She came into the king's presence, and stood before the
king. {1:29} The king swore, and said, As the LORD lives, who has
redeemed my soul out of all adversity, {1:30} most assuredly as I
swore to you by the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, saying, Assuredly
Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in
my place; most assuredly so will I do this day. {1:31} Then Bat-Sheva
bowed with her face to the [6>]eretz[<6], and did obeisance to the
king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever. {1:32} King David
said, Call to me Tzadok the [7>]Kohen[<7], and Natan the prophet, and
Benayah the son of Yehoiada. They came before the king. {1:33} The
king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause
Shlomo my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gichon:
{1:34} and let Tzadok the [8>]Kohen[<8] and Natan the prophet anoint
him there king over Yisra'el; and blow you the [9>]shofar[<9], and
say, [Long] live king Shlomo. {1:35} Then you shall come up after him,
and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my
place; and I have appointed him to be prince over Yisra'el and over
Yehudah. {1:36} Benayah the son of Yehoiada answered the king, and
said, Amein: the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so [too].
{1:37} As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so be he with
Shlomo, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king
David. {1:38} So Tzadok the [10>]Kohen[<10], and Natan the prophet,
and Benayah the son of Yehoiada, and the Kereti and the Peleti, went
down, and caused Shlomo to ride on king David's mule, and brought him
to Gichon. {1:39} Tzadok the [11>]Kohen[<11] took the horn of oil out
of the Tent, and anointed Shlomo. They blew the [12>]shofar[<12]; and
all the people said, [Long] live king Shlomo. {1:40} All the people
came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with
great joy, so that the [13>]eretz[<13] shook with the sound of them.
{1:41} Adoniyahu and all the guests who were with him heard it as they
had made an end of eating. When Yo'av heard the sound of the
[14>]shofar[<14], he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an
uproar? {1:42} While he yet spoke, behold, Yonatan the son of Avyatar
the [15>]Kohen[<15] came: and Adoniyahu said, Come in; for you are a
worthy man, and bring good news. {1:43} Yonatan answered Adoniyahu,
Most assuredly our lord king David has made Shlomo king: {1:44} and
the king has sent with him Tzadok the [16>]Kohen[<16], and Natan the
prophet, and Benayah the son of Yehoiada, and the Kereti and the
Peleti; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule; {1:45}
and Tzadok the [17>]Kohen[<17] and Natan the prophet have anointed him
king in Gichon; and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the
city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. {1:46} Also
Shlomo sits on the throne of the kingdom. {1:47} Moreover the king's
servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, Your God make the
name of Shlomo better than your name, and make his throne greater than
your throne: and the king bowed himself on the bed. {1:48} Also thus
said the king, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, who has given
one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it. {1:49} All
the guests of Adoniyahu were afraid, and rose up, and went every man
his way. {1:50} Adoniyahu feared because of Shlomo; and he arose, and
went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. {1:51} It was told
Shlomo, saying, Behold, Adoniyahu fears king Shlomo; for, behold, he
has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Shlomo swear
to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword. {1:52}
Shlomo said, If he shall show himself a worthy man, there shall not a
hair of him fall to the [18>]eretz[<18]; but if wickedness be found in
him, he shall die. {1:53} So king Shlomo sent, and they brought him
down from the altar. He came and did obeisance to king Shlomo; and
Shlomo said to him, Go to your house.
{2:1} Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he
charged Shlomo his son, saying, {2:2} I am going the way of all the
[1>]eretz[<1]: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man; {2:3}
and keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep
his statutes, [and] his [2>]mitzvot[<2], and his ordinances, and his
testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moshe,
that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn
yourself. {2:4} That the LORD may establish his word which he spoke
concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to
walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,
there shall not fail you (said he) a man on the throne of Yisra'el.
{2:5} Moreover you know also what Yo'av the son of Tzeru'yah did to
me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Yisra'el, to
Aviner the son of Ner, and to `Amasa the son of Yeter, whom he killed,
and shed the blood of war in shalom, and put the blood of war on his
sash that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
{2:6} Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don't let his gray
head go down to She'ol in shalom. {2:7} But show kindness to the sons
of Barzillai the Gil`adite, and let them be of those who eat at your
table; for so they came to me when I fled from Avshalom your brother.
{2:8} Behold, there is with you Shim`i the son of Gera, the Binyamini,
of Bachurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I
went to Machanayim; but he came down to meet me at the Yarden, and I
swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put you to death with the
sword. {2:9} Now therefore don't hold him guiltless, for you are a
wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall
bring his gray head down to She'ol with blood. {2:10} David slept with
his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. {2:11} The days that
David reigned over Yisra'el were forty years; seven years reigned he
in Hevron, and thirty-three years reigned he in Yerushalayim. {2:12}
Shlomo sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was
established greatly. {2:13} Then Adoniyahu the son of Haggit came to
Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo. She said, Come you peaceably? He said,
Peaceably. {2:14} He said moreover, I have somewhat to tell you. She
said, Say on. {2:15} He said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and
that all Yisra'el set their faces on me, that I should reign: however
the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's; for it was
his from the LORD. {2:16} Now I ask one petition of you; don't deny
me. She said to him, Say on. {2:17} He said, Please speak to Shlomo
the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Avishag the
Shunammite as wife. {2:18} Bat-Sheva said, Well; I will speak for you
to the king. {2:19} Bat-Sheva therefore went to king Shlomo, to speak
to him for Adoniyahu. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself
to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for
the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. {2:20} Then she
said, I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me. The king said to
her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you. {2:21} She said, Let
Avishag the Shunammite be given to Adoniyahu your brother as wife.
{2:22} King Shlomo answered his mother, Why do you ask Avishag the
Shunammite for Adoniyahu? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my
elder brother; even for him, and for Avyatar the [3>]Kohen[<3], and
for Yo'av the son of Tzeru'yah. {2:23} Then king Shlomo swore by the
LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adoniyahu has not
spoken this word against his own life. {2:24} Now therefore as the
LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David
my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely
Adoniyahu shall be put to death this day. {2:25} King Shlomo sent by
Benayah the son of Yehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.
{2:26} To Avyatar the [4>]Kohen[<4] said the king, Get you to `Anatot,
to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at
this time put you to death, because you bear the ark of the Lord GOD
before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which
my father was afflicted. {2:27} So Shlomo thrust out Avyatar from
being [5>]Kohen[<5] to the LORD, that he might fulfill the word of the
LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of `Eli in Shiloh. {2:28}
The news came to Yo'av; for Yo'av had turned after Adoniyahu, though
he didn't turn after Avshalom. Yo'av fled to the Tent of the LORD, and
caught hold on the horns of the altar. {2:29} It was told king Shlomo,
Yo'av is fled to the Tent of the LORD, and, behold, he is by the
altar. Then Shlomo sent Benayah the son of Yehoiada, saying, Go, fall
on him. {2:30} Benayah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said to him,
Thus says the king, Come forth. He said, No; but I will die here.
Benayah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Yo'av, and thus
he answered me. {2:31} The king said to him, Do as he has said, and
fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which
Yo'av shed without cause, from me and from my father's house. {2:32}
The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two
men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword,
and my father David didn't know it, [to wit], Aviner the son of Ner,
captain of the host of Yisra'el, and `Amasa the son of Yeter, captain
of the host of Yehudah. {2:33} So shall their blood return on the head
of Yo'av, and on the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to
his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, shall there be shalom
for ever from the LORD. {2:34} Then Benayah the son of Yehoiada went
up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own
house in the wilderness. {2:35} The king put Benayah the son of
Yehoiada in his room over the host; and Tzadok the [6>]Kohen[<6] did
the king put in the room of Avyatar. {2:36} The king sent and called
for Shim`i, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Yerushalayim,
and dwell there, and don't go forth from there any where. {2:37} For
on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know you for
certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own
head. {2:38} Shim`i said to the king, The saying is good: as my lord
the king has said, so will your servant do. Shim`i lived in
Yerushalayim many days. {2:39} It happened at the end of three years,
that two of the servants of Shim`i ran away to Akhish, son of
Ma`akhah, king of Gat. They told Shim`i, saying, Behold, your servants
are in Gat. {2:40} Shim`i arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to
Gat to Akhish, to seek his servants; and Shim`i went, and brought his
servants from Gat. {2:41} It was told Shlomo that Shim`i had gone from
Yerushalayim to Gat, and was come again. {2:42} The king sent and
called for Shim`i, and said to him, Didn't I adjure you by the LORD,
and protest to you, saying, Know for certain, that on the day you go
out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die? and you said to
me, The saying that I have heard is good. {2:43} Why then have you not
kept the oath of the LORD, and the [7>]mitzvah[<7] that I have charged
you with? {2:44} The king said moreover to Shim`i, You know all the
wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my
father: therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness on your own
head. {2:45} But king Shlomo shall be blessed, and the throne of David
shall be established before the LORD forever. {2:46} So the king
commanded Benayah the son of Yehoiada; and he went out, and fell on
him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of
Shlomo.
{3:1} Shlomo made affinity with Par`oh king of Mitzrayim, and took
Par`oh'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 Yerushalayim round about. {3:2} Only the people
sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for
the name of the LORD until those days. {3:3} Shlomo loved the LORD,
walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and
burnt incense in the high places. {3:4} The king went to Giv`on to
sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt
offerings did Shlomo offer on that altar. {3:5} In Giv`on the LORD
appeared to Shlomo in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I shall
give you. {3:6} Shlomo said, You have shown to your servant David my
father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in
truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and
you have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given
him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. {3:7} Now, LORD my
God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father: and I
am but a little child; I don't know how to go out or come in. {3:8}
Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a
great people, that can't be numbered nor counted for multitude. {3:9}
Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your
people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to
judge this your great people? {3:10} The speech pleased the Lord, that
Shlomo had asked this thing. {3:11} God said to him, Because you have
asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither
have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your
enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;
{3:12} behold, I have done according to your word: behold, I have
given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been
none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.
{3:13} I have also given you that which you have not asked, both
riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like
you, all your days. {3:14} If you will walk in my ways, to keep my
statutes and my [1>]mitzvot[<1], as your father David did walk, then I
will lengthen your days. {3:15} Shlomo awoke; and, behold, it was a
dream: and he came to Yerushalayim, 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. {3:16} Then
there came two women who were prostitutes, to the king, and stood
before him. {3:17} The one woman said, Oh, my lord, I and this woman
dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the
house. {3:18} It happened the third day after I was delivered, that
this woman was delivered also; and we were together; there was no
stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. {3:19} This
woman's child died in the night, because she lay on it. {3:20} She
arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid
slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
{3:21} When I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it
was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was
not my son, whom I bore. {3:22} The other woman said, No; but the
living is my son, and the dead is your son. This said, No; but the
dead is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the
king. {3:23} Then said the king, The one says, This is my son who
lives, and your son is the dead: and the other says, No; but your son
is the dead, and my son is the living. {3:24} The king said, Get me a
sword. They brought a sword before the king. {3:25} The king said,
Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to
the other. {3:26} Then spoke the woman whose the living child was to
the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, Oh, my
lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it. But the other
said, It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it. {3:27} Then the
king answered, Give her the living child, and in no way kill it: she
is the mother of it. {3:28} All Yisra'el heard of the judgment which
the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the
wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.
________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes:
[1] {1:7} priest
[2] {1:8} priest
[3] {1:19} priest
[4] {1:25} priest
[5] {1:26} priest
[6] {1:31} earth
[7] {1:32} priest
[8] {1:34} priest
[9] {1:34} trumpet
[10] {1:38} priest
[11] {1:39} priest
[12] {1:39} trumpet
[13] {1:40} earth
[14] {1:41} trumpet
[15] {1:42} priest
[16] {1:44} priest
[17] {1:45} priest
[18] {1:52} earth
[1] {2:2} earth
[2] {2:3} commandments
[3] {2:22} priest
[4] {2:26} priest
[5] {2:27} priest
[6] {2:35} priest
[7] {2:43} commandment
[1] {3:14} commandments
________________________________________________________________________
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