Study Desk

Do what the Lord your God tells you. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and His Word, by what is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go.

Then the Lord will keep His promise to me. He has said to me, ‘Your sons must be careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and soul. If they do, you will never be without a man on the throne of Israel.'

Now you know what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me. You know what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel. He killed Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether in the time of peace as if it were in the time of war. He put the blood of war on his belt and on the shoes of his feet.

So act with wisdom. Do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.

So do not let him go without being punished. For you are a wise man. You will know what you should do to him. Bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood."

Solomon sat on the throne of his father David and things went well for the nation.

So he said, "You know that the nation was mine. All Israel thought I would be king. But the nation has become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord.

So Bathsheba went to speak to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her, bowed in front of her, then sat on his throne. He had a seat brought in for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife."

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why are you asking me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah? Ask me to give him the nation also! For he is my older brother. And Abiathar the religious leader and Joab the son of Zeruiah are on his side!"

Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, "May God do so to me and more, if Adonijah has not asked for this against his own life.

The Lord will return Joab's acts of killing upon his own head. Because Joab killed two men who were right and good and better than he. He killed them with the sword while my father David did not know it. He killed Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

So their blood will be on the head of Joab and on the head of his children forever. But may there be peace from the Lord forever to David and his children, his house and his throne."

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and killed Joab. He was buried at his own house in the desert.

Then Shimei got up and made his donkey ready to travel. And he went to Achish in Gath to look for his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

Then Solomon made a marriage agreement with Pharaoh the king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to the city of David. She stayed there until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Now Solomon loved the Lord. He walked in the Laws of his father David. But he gave gifts and burned special perfume on different altars.

Then Solomon said, "You have shown great loving-kindness to Your servant David my father because he was faithful and right and good and pure in heart before You. And You have kept for him this great and lasting love. You have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

Solomon awoke, and saw it was a dream. He came to Jerusalem and stood before the Lord's special box of the agreement. There he gave burnt gifts and peace gifts, and made a special supper for all his servants.

Then the king answered and said, "Give the first woman the living child. Do not kill him. She is his mother."