17. He replied, “Speak to King Solomon on my behalf, for I know he will do anything you request. Ask him to let me marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem.”
18. “All right,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19. So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak on Adonijah’s behalf. The king rose from his throne to meet her, and he bowed down before her. When he sat down on his throne again, the king ordered that a throne be brought for his mother, and she sat at his right hand.
20. “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “I hope you won’t turn me down.”“What is it, my mother?” he asked. “You know I won’t refuse you.”
21. “Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem,” she replied.
22. “How can you possibly ask me to give Abishag to Adonijah?” King Solomon demanded. “You might as well ask me to give him the kingdom! You know that he is my older brother, and that he has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his side.”
23. Then King Solomon made a vow before the lord: “May God strike me and even kill me if Adonijah has not sealed his fate with this request.
24. The lord has confirmed me and placed me on the throne of my father, David; he has established my dynasty as he promised. So as surely as the lord lives, Adonijah will die this very day!”