He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood.

So Ahab assembled the 232 servants of the district governors. After that he assembled all the Israelite army, numbering 7,000.

Muster an army like the one you lost, with the same number of horses and chariots. Then we will fight them in the plains; we will certainly overpower them.” He approved their plan and did as they advised.

So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, pouted, and would not eat.

He answered her, “While I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, I said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard for silver, or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not sell you my vineyard.’”

Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Haven’t you committed murder and taken possession of the property of the deceased?”’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “In the spot where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they will also lick up your blood – yes, yours!”’”

Now the king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high-ranking officers; fight only the king of Israel.”

(Now his father had never corrected him by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom.)

So Bathsheba visited the king in his private quarters. (The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.)

There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet and declare, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

Benaiah son of Jehoiada responded to the king: “So be it! May the Lord God of my master the king confirm it!

As the Lord is with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon, and may he make him an even greater king than my master King David!”

Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king in Gihon. They went up from there rejoicing, and the city is in an uproar. That is the sound you hear.

King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, “May God judge me severely, if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life!

If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die! You will be responsible for your own death.”

The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei. So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom.

Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the Lord by following the practices of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David’s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced.

If you follow my instructions by obeying my rules and regulations, just as your father David did, then I will grant you long life.”

I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.”