So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.”
Parallel translations
- WEB She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
- KJV And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.
- BSB So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”
- NKJV So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
- NLT “Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem,” she replied.
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 requests that Abishag be given to Adonijah as his wife. Though it sounds modest, claiming the former king's attendant was effectively a claim on the throne.
Overview
In the ancient Near East, possessing a king's wife or concubine was a public assertion of royal succession, as Absalom's act with David's concubines had shown. Whether Bathsheba grasped this or Adonijah used her as an unwitting instrument, the request was a veiled bid for the kingdom. The episode reveals how ambition cloaks itself in seemingly innocent appeals.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- 2 Sam 16:21–22Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”
- 1 Kgs 1:3So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
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Original language
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