While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and add my word to what you have said.”

While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

The king then took an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,

Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.”

“Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”

When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.

So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.

During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.

But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.

So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs.

The word of the Lord came to Solomon:

The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around.

And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart),

“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.

And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need,

The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:

‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.

The Man of God From Judah

By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.

By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”

Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.