1 Kings 1:53

1:53 King Solomon sent men to bring him down ¹  from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, “Go home.” ² 

1 Kings 1:2

1:2 His servants advised ³  him, “A young virgin must be found for our master, the king, ⁴  to take care of the king’s needs ⁵  and serve as his nurse. She can also sleep with you ⁶  and keep our master, the king, warm.” ⁷ 

1 Kings 14:24

14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes ⁸  in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations ⁹  that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

1 Kings 14:28

14:28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

¹ tn Heb “sent and they brought him down.”

² tn Heb “Go to your house.”

³ tn Heb “said to.”

⁴ tn Heb “let them seek for my master, the king, a young girl, a virgin.” The third person plural subject of the verb is indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f). The appositional expression, “a young girl, a virgin,” is idiomatic; the second term specifically defines the more general first term (see IBHS 230 §12.3b).

⁵ tn Heb “and she will stand before the king.” The Hebrew phrase “stand before” can mean “to attend; to serve” (BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד).

⁶ tn Heb “and she will lie down in your bosom.” The expression might imply sexual intimacy (see 2 Sam 12:3 [where the lamb symbolizes Bathsheba] and Mic 7:5), though v. 4b indicates that David did not actually have sex with the young woman.

⁷ tn Heb “and my master, the king, will be warm.”

⁸ tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”

⁹ tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”