1. Now king David had become elderly, and he had many days in his lifetime. And though he was covered with clothes, he was not warmed.
2. Therefore, his servants said to him: "Let us seek, for our lord the king, a young virgin. And let her stand before the king, and warm him, and sleep in his bosom, and provide warmth for our lord the king."
3. And so they sought a beautiful young woman in all the parts of Israel. And they found Abishag, a Shunammite, and they led her to the king.
4. Now the girl was exceedingly beautiful. And she slept with the king, and she ministered to him. Yet truly, the king did not know her.
5. Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, "I shall reign!" And he appointed for himself chariots and horsemen, with fifty men who would run before him.
6. Neither did his father chastise him at any time, saying, "Why have you done this?" Now he, too, was very beautiful, the second in birth, after Absalom.
7. And he conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar, the priest, who gave assistance to the side of Adonijah.
8. Yet truly, Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan, the prophet, and Shimei and Rei, and the mature men of the army of David were not with Adonijah.
9. Then Adonijah, having immolated rams and calves and every kind of fat cattle beside the Stone of the Serpent, which was in the vicinity of the fountain Rogel, summoned all his brothers, the sons of the king, and all the men of Judah, the servants of the king.
10. But he did not summon Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, and all the mature men, and Solomon, his brother.
11. And so Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon: "Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has begun to reign, and that our lord David is ignorant of this?