Day 185 of 365

¹Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

²"I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;

³and keep the instruction of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

⁴That the Lord may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,' he said, 'a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁵"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

⁶Do therefore according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

⁷But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

⁹Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."

¹⁰David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹²Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably.

¹⁴He said moreover, I have something to tell you." She said, "Say on."

¹⁵He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from the Lord.

¹⁶Now I ask one petition of you. Do not deny me." She said to him, "Say on."

¹⁷He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."

¹⁸Bathsheba said, "Alright. I will speak for you to the king."

¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

²⁰Then she said, "I ask one small petition of you; do not deny me." The king said to her, "Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you."

²¹She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

²²King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

²³Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day."

²⁵King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

²⁶To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

²⁷So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

²⁹It was told king Solomon, "Joab has fled to the Tent of the Lord, and behold, he is by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him."

³⁰Benaiah came to the Tent of the Lord, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth!'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

³¹The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

³²The Lord will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

³³So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord."

³⁴Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

³⁶The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

³⁷For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head."

³⁸Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

⁴⁰Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

⁴¹It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

⁴²The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not adjure you by the Lord, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.'

⁴³Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?"

⁴⁴The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore the Lord shall return your wickedness on your own head.

⁴⁵But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever."

⁴⁶So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

¹Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

²Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

³Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I shall give you."

⁶Solomon said, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

⁷Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

⁸Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can't be numbered nor counted for multitude.

⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?"

¹⁰The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

¹²behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

¹³I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

¹⁴If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

¹⁵Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

¹⁷The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

¹⁸It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

¹⁹This woman's child died in the night, because she lay on it.

²⁰She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore."

²²The other woman said, "No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son." This said, "No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son." Thus they spoke before the king.

²³Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

²⁴The king said, "Get me a sword." They brought a sword before the king.

²⁵The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."

²⁶Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it!" But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it."

²⁷Then the king answered, "Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother."

²⁸All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

¹King Solomon was king over all Israel.

²These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

⁴and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, the king's friend;

⁶and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

⁷Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

⁸These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

⁹Ben Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

¹⁰Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh, and all the land of Hepher);

¹¹Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth Shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;

¹³Ben Geber, in Ramoth Gilead (to him belonged the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him belonged the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

¹⁶Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land.

²⁰Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

²¹Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²²Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal,

²³ten head of fat cattle, and twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.

²⁴For he had dominion over all on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides around him.

²⁵Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

²⁶Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

²⁷Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they to the place where the officers were, every man according to his duty.

²⁹God gave Solomon wisdom and exceptional insight, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

³⁰Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around.

³²He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.

³⁴There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

¹Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.

²Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.

³Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me. Tell my soul, "I am your salvation."

⁴Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor. Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded.

⁵Let them be as chaff before the wind, The Lord's angel driving them on.

⁶Let their way be dark and slippery, The Lord's angel pursuing them.

⁷For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.

⁸Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.

⁹My soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation.

¹⁰All my bones shall say, "Lord, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?"

¹¹Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I do not know about.

¹²They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.

¹³But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.

¹⁴I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.

¹⁵But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I did not know it. They tore at me, and did not cease.

¹⁶Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.

¹⁸I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people.

¹⁹Do not let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause and wink their eyes.

²⁰For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

²¹Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, "Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it!"

²²You have seen it, Lord. Do not keep silent. Lord, do not be far from me.

²³Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!

²⁴Vindicate me, Lord my God, according to your righteousness. Do not let them gloat over me.

²⁵Do not let them say in their heart, "Aha! That's the way we want it!" Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up!"

²⁶Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.

²⁷Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause. Yes, let them say continually, "The Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant!"

²⁸My tongue shall talk about your righteousness and about your praise all day long.

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²"Surely I am the most ignorant man, and do not have a man's understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

⁵"Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

⁷"Two things I have asked of you; do not deny me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;

⁹lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰"Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn't bless their mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

¹³There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁵"The leach has two daughters: 'Give, give.' "There are three things that are never satisfied; four that do not say, 'Enough:'

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn't say, 'Enough.'

¹⁷"The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

¹⁸"There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I do not understand:

¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.

²⁰"So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

²¹"For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can't bear up:

²²For a servant when he is king; a fool when he is filled with food;

²³for an unloved woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.

²⁴"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.

²⁶The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

²⁷The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.

²⁸You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹"There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:

³⁰The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn't turn away for any;

³¹the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

³²"If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife."