If you do not act, my son Solomon and I will be treated as criminals as soon as my lord the king has died.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.”
- KJV Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
- BSB Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be counted as criminals.”
- NKJV Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king rests with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted as offenders.”
- NASB Otherwise it will come about, as soon as my lord the king lies down with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered offenders.”
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
Bathsheba warns that if David dies without acting, she and Solomon will be treated as criminals. She names the deadly consequence of inaction.
Overview
Bathsheba spells out the likely outcome: once David is gone, a triumphant Adonijah would regard her and Solomon as rivals to be eliminated. Her plea blends genuine danger with a call for justice. The verse heightens the urgency and prepares for David's resolve.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 31:16Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
- 1 Kgs 2:10David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city.
- 1 Kgs 2:15He 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 Yahweh.
- 2 Sam 7:12When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- Gen 15:15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
- 1 Kgs 2:22–24King 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.”
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 1:21 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
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