1. And Sovereign Dawiḏ was old, advanced in years. And they covered him with garments, but he could not get warm.
2. So his servants said to him, “Let them seek for our master the sovereign a young woman, a maiden, and she shall stand before the sovereign and be his companion, and shall lie in your bosom, so that our master the sovereign gets warm.”
3. And they sought for a lovely young woman in all the border of Yisra’ĕl, and found Aḇishag̅ the Shunammite, and brought her to the sovereign.
4. And the young woman was very lovely. And she was a companion for the sovereign, and served him, but the sovereign did not know her.
5. And Aḏoniyah son of Ḥaggith exalted himself, saying, “I reign.” And he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
6. Now his father had not worried him at any time by saying, “Why have you done so?” He was also very good-looking. And he was born after Aḇshalom.
7. And he talked with Yo’aḇ son of Tseruyah and with Eḇyathar the priest, and they supported Aḏoniyah.
8. But Tsaḏoq the priest, and Benayahu son of Yehoyaḏa, and Nathan the prophet, and Shim‛i, and Rĕ‛i, and the mighty men who belonged to Dawiḏ were not with Aḏoniyahu.
9. And Aḏoniyahu offered sheep and cattle and fatlings by the stone of Zoḥeleth, which is by Ěn Rog̅ĕl. He also invited all his brothers, the sovereign’s sons, and all the men of Yehuḏah, servants of the sovereign.
10. But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benayahu, or the mighty men, or Shelomoh his brother.
11. Nathan then spoke to Bathsheḇa the mother of Shelomoh, saying, “Have you not heard that Aḏoniyahu son of Ḥaggith has become sovereign, and Dawiḏ our master does not know it?
12. “And now, come let me give you advice, and deliver your own life and the life of your son Shelomoh.
13. “Go immediately to Sovereign Dawiḏ and say to him, ‘Did you not, my master, O sovereign, swear to your female servant, saying, “Certainly, your son Shelomoh shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Aḏoniyahu become sovereign?’