Come, please, let me now give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and your son Solomon’s life.
- KJV Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.
- BSB Now please, come and let me advise you. Save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.
- NASB So now come, please let me give you advice, and save your life and the life of your son Solomon.
- NLT If you want to save your own life and the life of your son Solomon, follow my advice.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Nathan offers Bathsheba a plan to save her own life and Solomon's. He recognizes the deadly danger a rival king poses to them.
Overview
Nathan understands that if Adonijah secures the throne, Bathsheba and Solomon would likely be killed as threats. His counsel is both shrewd and protective, aimed at preserving the line through which God's promise to David will run. The verse underscores the real stakes of royal succession in the ancient world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 2 Kgs 11:1Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.
- Prov 15:22Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.
- 2 Chr 22:10Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.
- Jer 38:15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”
- Prov 11:14Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.
- Prov 27:9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
- Judg 9:5He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.
- Acts 27:31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.”
- Gen 19:17It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”
- Matt 21:38But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
- 2 Chr 21:4Now when Jehoram had risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
- Prov 20:18Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
- 1 Kgs 1:21Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.