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Solomon succeeded his father David as king, and his royal power was firmly established.

So Bathsheba went to the king to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king stood up to greet his mother and bowed to her. Then he sat on his throne and had another one brought in on which she sat at his right.

She answered, "Let your brother Adonijah have Abishag as his wife."

"Why do you ask me to give Abishag to him?" the king asked. "You might as well ask me to give him the throne too. After all, he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab are on his side!"

Then Solomon made a solemn promise in the Lord 's name, "May God strike me dead if I don't make Adonijah pay with his life for asking this!

The Lord has firmly established me on the throne of my father David; he has kept his promise and given the kingdom to me and my descendants. I swear by the living Lord that Adonijah will die this very day!"

Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to your country home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not have you put to death now, for you were in charge of the Lord 's Covenant Box while you were with my father David, and you shared in all his troubles."

Then Solomon dismissed Abiathar from serving as a priest of the Lord , and so made come true what the Lord had said in Shiloh about the priest Eli and his descendants.

The punishment for their murders will fall on Joab and on his descendants forever. But the Lord will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne."

So Benaiah went to the Tent of the Lord 's presence and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the open country.

he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home.

Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. He brought her to live in David's City until he had finished building his palace, the Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Solomon loved the Lord and followed the instructions of his father David, but he also slaughtered animals and offered them as sacrifices on various altars.

Solomon answered, "You always showed great love for my father David, your servant, and he was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. And you have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place.

Solomon woke up and realized that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of the Lord 's Covenant Box and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord . After that he gave a feast for all his officials.

and these were his high officials: The priest: Azariah son of Zadok

Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They were to provide food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year.

Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.

Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses.

His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed.