Study Desk

So the three warriors broke through the Philistine army and took water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem. Then they brought it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out before the Lord ,

saying, "May the Lord keep me from drinking this water! It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives!" So David refused to drink it. These were the brave things that the three warriors did.

So King David said to Joab, the commander of the army, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people. Then I will know how many there are."

But the king commanded Joab and the commanders of the army, so they left the king to count the Israelites.

So Gad went to David and said to him, "Should three years of hunger come to you and your land? Or should your enemies chase you for three months? Or should there be three days of disease in your land? Think about it. Then decide which of these things I should tell the Lord who sent me."

So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand people died.

So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.

Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and bowed facedown on the ground before the king.

He said, "Why has my master the king come to me?" David answered, "To buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord . Then the terrible disease will stop."

But the king answered Araunah, "No, I will pay you for the land. I won't offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for one and one-fourth pounds of silver.

Adonijah was the son of King David and Haggith, and he was very proud. "I will be the king," he said. So he got chariots and horses for himself and fifty men for his personal bodyguard.

So Bathsheba went in to see the aged king in his bedroom, where Abishag, the girl from Shunam, was caring for him.

The servants told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." So Nathan went to the king and bowed facedown on the ground before him.

Then the king said, "Tell Bathsheba to come in!" So she came in and stood before the king.

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada left with the Kerethites and Pelethites. They put Solomon on King David's mule and took him to the spring called Gihon.

All the people followed Solomon into the city. Playing flutes and shouting for joy, they made so much noise the ground shook.

While Joab was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in! You are an important man, so you must be bringing good news."

Adonijah was also afraid of Solomon, so he went and took hold of the corners of the altar.

Then someone told Solomon, "Adonijah is afraid of you, so he is at the altar, holding on to its corners. He says, ‘Tell King Solomon to promise me today that he will not kill me.'"

So Solomon answered, "Adonijah must show that he is a man of honor. If he does that, I promise he will not lose even a single hair from his head. But if he does anything wrong, he will die."