1 Reis 1

ARC · Chapter 1/22

1Sendo pois o rei David já velho, e entrado em dias, cobriam-n'o de vestes, porém não aquecia.

2Então disseram-lhe os seus servos: Busquem para o rei meu senhor uma moça virgem, que esteja perante o rei, e tenha cuidado d'elle: e durma no seu seio, para que o rei meu senhor aqueça.

3E buscaram por todos os termos de Israel uma moça formosa: e acharam a Abisag, sunamita; e a trouxeram ao rei.

4E era a moça sobre maneira formosa: e tinha cuidado do rei, e o servia; porém o rei não a conheceu.

5Então Adonias, filho d'Haggith, se levantou, dizendo: Eu reinarei. E preparou carros, e cavalleiros, e cincoenta homens, que corressem diante d'elle.

6E nunca seu pae o tinha contrariado, dizendo: Porque fizeste assim? E era elle tambem mui formoso de parecer; e Haggith o parira depois de Absalão.

7E tinha intelligencia com Joab, filho de Zeruia, e com Abiathar o sacerdote; os quaes o ajudavam, seguindo a Adonias.

8Porém Zadok o sacerdote, e Benaia, filho de Joiada, e Nathan, o propheta, e Simei, e Rei, e os valentes que David tinha, não estavam com Adonias.

9E matou Adonias ovelhas, e vaccas, e bestas cevadas, junto á pedra de Zoheleth, que está junto á fonte de Rogel: e convidou a todos os seus irmãos, os filhos do rei, e a todos os homens de Judah, servos do rei

10Porém a Nathan, propheta, e a Benaia, e aos valentes, e a Salomão, seu irmão, não convidou.

11Então fallou Nathan a Bath-seba, mãe de Salomão, dizendo: Não ouviste que Adonias, filho de Haggith, reina? e que nosso senhor David não o sabe

12Vem pois agora, e deixa-me dar-te um conselho, para que salves a tua vida, e a de Salomão teu filho.

13Vae, e entra ao rei David, e dize-lhe: Não juraste tu, rei senhor meu, á tua serva, dizendo: Certamente teu filho Salomão reinará depois de mim, e elle se assentará no meu throno? porque pois reina Adonias?

14Eis que, estando tu ainda ahi fallando com o rei, eu tambem entrarei depois de ti, e acabarei as tuas palavras.

15E entrou Bath-seba ao rei na recamara; e o rei era mui velho: e Abisag, a sunamita, servia ao rei.

16E Bath-seba inclinou a cabeça, e se prostrou perante o rei: e disse o rei: Que tens?

17E ella lhe disse: Senhor meu, tu juraste á tua serva pelo Senhor teu Deus, dizendo: Salomão, teu filho, reinará depois de mim, e elle se assentará no meu throno.

18E agora eis que Adonias reina: e agora, ó rei meu senhor, tu não o sabes.

19E matou vaccas, e bestas cevadas, e ovelhas em abundancia, e convidou a todos os filhos do rei, e a Abiathar, o sacerdote, e a Joab, general do exercito, mas a teu servo Salomão não convidou.

20Porém tu, ó rei meu senhor, os olhos de todo o Israel estão sobre ti, para que lhes declares quem se assentará sobre o throno do rei meu senhor, depois d'elle.

21D'outro modo succederá que, quando o rei meu senhor dormir com seus paes, eu e Salomão meu filho seremos os peccantes.

22E, estando ella ainda fallando com o rei, eis que entra o propheta Nathan.

23E o fizeram saber ao rei, dizendo: Eis ali está o propheta Nathan. E entrou á presença do rei, e prostrou-se diante do rei com o rosto em terra.

24E disse Nathan: Ó rei meu senhor, disseste tu: Adonias reinará depois de mim, e elle se assentará sobre o meu throno?

25Porque hoje desceu, e matou vaccas, e bestas cevadas, e ovelhas em abundancia, e convidou a todos os filhos do rei, e aos capitães do exercito, e a Abiathar, o sacerdote, e eis que estão comendo e bebendo perante elle: e dizem: Viva o rei Adonias!

26Porém a mim, sendo eu teu servo, e a Zadok, o sacerdote, e a Benaia, filho de Joiada, e a Salomão, teu servo, não convidou.

27Foi feito isto da parte do rei meu senhor? e não fizeste saber a teu servo quem se assentaria no throno do rei meu senhor depois d'elle?

28E respondeu o rei David, e disse: Chamae-me a Bath-seba, E ella entrou á presença do rei; e estava em pé diante do rei.

29Então jurou o rei e disse: Vive o Senhor, o qual remiu a minha alma de toda a angustia,

30Que, como te jurei pelo Senhor Deus de Israel, dizendo: Certamente teu filho Salomão reinará depois de mim, e elle se assentará no meu throno, em meu logar, assim o farei no dia d'hoje.

31Então Bath-seba se inclinou com o rosto em terra, e se prostrou diante do rei, e disse: Viva o rei David meu senhor para sempre!

32E disse o rei David: Chamae-me a Zadok, o sacerdote, e a Nathan, o propheta, e a Benaia, filho de Joiada. E entraram á presença do rei.

33E o rei lhes disse: Tomae comvosco os servos de vosso senhor, e fazei subir a meu filho Salomão na mula que é minha; e fazei-o descer a Gihon.

34E Zadok, o sacerdote, com Nathan, o propheta, ali o ungirão rei sobre Israel: então tocareis a trombeta, e direis: Viva o rei Salomão!

35Então subireis apoz elle, e virá e se assentará no meu throno, e elle reinará em meu logar: porque tenho ordenado que elle seja guia sobre Israel e sobre Judah.

36Então Benaia, filho de Joiada, respondeu ao rei, e disse: Amen: assim o diga o Senhor Deus do rei meu senhor.

37Como o Senhor foi com o rei meu senhor, assim o seja com Salomão, e faça que o seu throno seja maior do que o throno do rei David meu senhor.

38Então desceu Zadok, o sacerdote, e Nathan, o propheta, e Benaia, filho de Joiada, e os cheretheos, e os peletheos, e fizeram montar a Salomão na mula do rei David, e o levaram a Gihon.

39E Zadok, o sacerdote tomou o vaso do azeite do tabernaculo, e ungiu a Salomão: e tocaram a, trombeta, e todo o povo disse: Viva o rei Salomão!

40E todo o povo subiu apoz elle, e o povo tangia com gaitas, e alegrava-se com grande alegria: de maneira que com o seu clamor a terra retiniu.

41E o ouviu Adonias, e todos os convidados que estavam com elle, que tinham acabado de comer: tambem Joab ouviu o sonido das trombetas, e disse: Porque ha tal ruido na cidade alvoroçada?

42Estando elle ainda fallando, eis que vem Jonathan, filho de Abiathar, o sacerdote, e disse Adonias: Entra, porque és homem valente, e trarás boas novas.

43E respondeu Jonathan, e disse a Adonias: Certamente nosso senhor rei David constituiu rei a Salomão.

44E o rei enviou com elle a Zadok, o sacerdote, e a Nathan, o propheta, e a Benaia, filho de Joiada, e aos cheretheos e aos peletheos: e o fizeram montar na mula do rei.

45E Zadok, o sacerdote, e Nathan, o propheta, o ungiram rei em Gihon, e d'ali subiram alegres, e a cidade está alvoroçada: este é o clamor que ouviste.

46E tambem Salomão está assentado no throno do reino.

47E tambem os servos do rei vieram abençoar a nosso senhor, o rei David, dizendo: Faça teu Deus que o nome de Salomão seja melhor do que o teu nome; e faça que o seu throno seja maior do que o teu throno. E o rei se inclinou no leito.

48E tambem disse o rei assim: Bemdito o Senhor Deus de Israel, que hoje tem dado quem se assente no meu throno, e que os meus olhos o vissem.

49Então estremeceram e se levantaram todos os convidados que estavam com Adonias: e cada um se foi ao seu caminho.

50Porém Adonias temeu a Salomão: e levantou-se, e foi, e pegou dos cornos do altar.

51E fez-se saber a Salomão, dizendo: Eis que Adonias teme ao rei Salomão: porque eis que pegou dos cornos do altar, dizendo: Jure-me hoje o rei Salomão que não matará a seu servo á espada.

52E disse Salomão: Se fôr homem de bem, nem um de seus cabellos cairá em terra: porém, se se achar n'elle maldade, morrerá.

53E enviou o rei Salomão, e o fizeram descer do altar; e veiu, e prostrou-se perante o rei Salomão, e Salomão lhe disse: Vae para tua casa.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

David is old and frail. His son Adonijah tries to proclaim himself king, but the prophet Nathan and Bathsheba intervene, and David orders that Solomon be anointed king immediately at Gihon. Adonijah, afraid, clings to the altar seeking mercy.

Explanation

This chapter shows the fragility of a great king's final days and how ambitions for power can arise quickly when leadership seems to be faltering. Adonijah, older and never corrected by his father (as the text reminds us about him), repeats the pattern of reckless self-promotion seen in Absalom. The swift action of Nathan and Bathsheba shows the importance of trusted people acting with courage to protect God's will and the promise made to Solomon. It is a reminder that divine promises often need people willing to act at the right moment for them to be fulfilled.

Fun facts

  • Gihon, where Solomon was anointed, was Jerusalem's main water source before Hezekiah's tunnel was built, and anointing a king near a spring symbolized life and lasting continuity.
  • Adonijah's gesture of grabbing the 'horns of the altar' (the projecting corners of the altar of sacrifice) was a culturally recognized plea for asylum, based on the idea that the altar was a sacred place of protection (see Exodus 21:14).

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Reis 1:1David is so old and frail that not even blankets can keep him warm. It sets the stage for everything that follows: a weakened king leaves the succession wide open.
  2. 1 Reis 1:2The servants’ solution to warm the king is to bring in a young woman to stay close to him and care for him — it’s not about romance, it’s about an old man who can no longer warm himself.
  3. 1 Reis 1:3They find Abishag of Shunem, described as very beautiful, and bring her to the king.
  4. 1 Reis 1:4Abishag was brought to warm David, who was now very old, and to care for him — not as an actual wife, and the text makes that clear by saying the king never knew her. This detail matters because, in the next chapter, asking for her hand becomes almost a claim to the throne: touching a woman from the dead king’s harem was seen as claiming his place.
  5. 1 Reis 1:5There was no fixed rule saying the oldest living son automatically inherited the throne. Adonijah was the oldest since Absalom’s death and acts as if that were enough, but David had already promised the throne to Solomon — that gap is what sets off the whole dispute of the chapter.
  6. 1 Reis 1:6The text explains why Adonijah feels entitled to become king: his father never rebuked him for anything, he was handsome like Absalom had been, and he was born right after him in the line of sons.
  7. 1 Reis 1:7Adonijah already has two heavyweights of the government on his side: Joab, the army commander, and Abiathar, one of the priests.
  8. 1 Reis 1:8But the other priest, Zadok, along with commander Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, and David’s elite soldiers, do not join Adonijah’s coup — the court is divided.
  9. 1 Reis 1:9Adonijah holds a great sacrificial feast by a spring and invites his brothers and the elite of Judah — a way of presenting himself as the king who has already arrived.
  10. 1 Reis 1:10He only leaves out the ones he knew would not support him: the prophet Nathan, commander Benaiah, the elite soldiers, and Solomon. The absence gives away the strategy.
  11. 1 Reis 1:11Nathan rushes to warn Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother: Adonijah is already declaring himself king and David does not even know it.
  12. 1 Reis 1:12Nathan offers to help Bathsheba protect her own life and her son’s — a sign that losing this succession dispute would be fatal, not just political.
  13. 1 Reis 1:13Nathan’s plan is for Bathsheba to remind David of an oath he had already made: that Solomon, and no other son, would reign after him.
  14. 1 Reis 1:14Nathan arranges to come in right after her and confirm everything before the king — two testimonies reinforcing the same request.
  15. 1 Reis 1:15Bathsheba enters David’s room, and it is Abishag herself, the young woman brought to care for him, who is there attending the king.
  16. 1 Reis 1:16Bathsheba bows before the king, and David asks what she needs.
  17. 1 Reis 1:17She reminds David of the promise: he had sworn by God that Solomon would reign after him.
  18. 1 Reis 1:18She tells him what is at stake: Adonijah is already reigning on his own, and the king has not even been informed.
  19. 1 Reis 1:19She describes Adonijah’s feast and makes clear the detail that matters most: Solomon, the king’s faithful servant, was not invited.
  20. 1 Reis 1:20She reminds David that all the people are waiting for him to say, in plain words, who will sit on the throne after him.
  21. 1 Reis 1:21Her fear is concrete: if David dies without deciding anything, she and Solomon will be treated as traitors by the new king.
  22. 1 Reis 1:22Right while she is still speaking, the prophet Nathan arrives — the second arranged testimony showing up at just the right moment.
  23. 1 Reis 1:23They tell the king Nathan is there, and the prophet bows with his face to the ground before him, in his usual respectful way.
  24. 1 Reis 1:24Nathan asks David directly: was it you, my lord the king, who decided that Adonijah would be the next king?
  25. 1 Reis 1:25Nathan repeats the scene at the feast: plenty of food, drink, and the people already shouting, “God save king Adonijah.”
  26. 1 Reis 1:26Nathan points out that he himself, Zadok, Benaiah, and Solomon were left off the guest list — the same names Bathsheba had already mentioned.
  27. 1 Reis 1:27Nathan asks whether this came from an order of the king himself, since no one told him, the king’s faithful servant, who the chosen successor would be.
  28. 1 Reis 1:28David sends for Bathsheba to come back in, and she enters and stands before him — the moment the king finally acts.
  29. 1 Reis 1:29David makes a solemn oath, calling on the Lord who has already delivered his life from every trouble before.
  30. 1 Reis 1:30David confirms, without hesitation: what he swore before still stands, and he will carry it out now — Solomon will be king in his place.
  31. 1 Reis 1:31Bathsheba bows to the ground and wishes David a long life — the relief of someone who had seen her son threatened.
  32. 1 Reis 1:32David calls the three men he trusts most to act immediately: the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and commander Benaiah.
  33. 1 Reis 1:33David gives the practical order: put Solomon on the king’s own mule and bring him down to Gihon.
  34. 1 Reis 1:34There, Zadok and Nathan are to anoint Solomon as king, with a trumpet blast and the public shout, “God save king Solomon” — a lightning coronation meant to cut off Adonijah’s coup.
  35. 1 Reis 1:35After the anointing, the people are to follow Solomon to the throne: David is officially appointing him as ruler over Israel and Judah.
  36. 1 Reis 1:36Benaiah answers with a simple “Amen,” sealing the king’s order as if it were the will of God Himself.
  37. 1 Reis 1:37Benaiah adds his wish: that God be with Solomon as He was with David, and that his reign be even greater.
  38. 1 Reis 1:38Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, and the king’s personal guard go down with Solomon to Gihon, riding on the royal mule.
  39. 1 Reis 1:39Anointing with oil taken from the tabernacle, rather than just any oil, marked the choice as coming from God, not only from the king. That’s why this priestly act carries more weight than the popular acclaim Adonijah had already organized on his own.
  40. 1 Reis 1:40The people go up behind Solomon playing flutes, in a celebration so great that the noise shakes the ground — the immediate popular response to the coronation.
  41. 1 Reis 1:41On the other side of the city, Adonijah and his guests hear the sound of the trumpets, and Joab asks what all the commotion is about.
  42. 1 Reis 1:42Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, arrives, and Adonijah asks him to bring good news — but the tone of the scene already warns that it will not be.
  43. 1 Reis 1:43Jonathan confirms the worst news for Adonijah: David himself has made Solomon king.
  44. 1 Reis 1:44Jonathan reports that David himself sent Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, and the royal guard to put Solomon on the king’s mule.
  45. 1 Reis 1:45He tells him that Solomon has already been anointed at Gihon and the whole city is celebrating — that is the noise Adonijah and his guests heard.
  46. 1 Reis 1:46Jonathan sums up the outcome: Solomon is already sitting on the throne of the kingdom, a done deal.
  47. 1 Reis 1:47The court officials went to congratulate David, wishing that Solomon’s name and throne would surpass his own — and the old king, moved, bows on his own bed.
  48. 1 Reis 1:48David blesses God for having lived to see, with his own eyes, a successor seated on the throne.
  49. 1 Reis 1:49On learning they had lost, Adonijah’s guests jump up in terror and each one flees his own way.
  50. 1 Reis 1:50The horns were the projecting corners of the sacrifice altar, and grabbing hold of them was a custom of seeking asylum, a kind of truce request while the person stayed there. It worked as temporary protection, but it depended entirely on the goodwill of whoever held the power.
  51. 1 Reis 1:51They tell Solomon that Adonijah, afraid of being killed, has grabbed the horns of the altar, asking for an oath that his life would be spared.
  52. 1 Reis 1:52Solomon answers with a clear condition: if Adonijah proves loyal, no harm will come to him; if he proves disloyal, he will die.
  53. 1 Reis 1:53Solomon has Adonijah brought down from the altar; he bows before the new king, who simply sends him home — a conditional pardon, not full trust.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.