Jehoshaphat passed away ¹  and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor ²  David. His son Jehoram replaced him as king.

In the seventeenth year of King Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahab’s son Ahaziah became king over Israel in Samaria. ¹  He ruled for two years over Israel.

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and followed in the footsteps ²  of his father and mother; like Jeroboam son of Nebat, he encouraged Israel to sin. ³ 

May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ¹  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

The real mother ¹  spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. ²  She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” ³  But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!”

Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He ¹  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, ²  the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  His mother was an Ammonite woman ⁴  named Naamah.

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and handed it to his servants. He then told them to deliver it ¹  to Ben Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened steers at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, ¹  as well as all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Has it been reported to you ¹  that Haggith’s son Adonijah has become king behind our master David’s back? ² 

Visit ¹  King David and say to him, ‘My master, O king, did you not solemnly promise ²  your servant, “Surely your son Solomon will be king after me; he will sit on my throne”? So why has Adonijah become king?’

For today he has gone down and sacrificed many cattle, steers, and sheep and has invited all the king’s sons, the army commanders, and Abiathar the priest. At this moment ¹  they are having a feast ²  in his presence, and they have declared, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ³ 

I will keep ¹  today the oath I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel: ‘Surely Solomon your son will be king after me; he will sit in my place on my throne.’”

and he ¹  told them, “Take your master’s ²  servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and lead him down to Gihon. ³ 

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites ¹  went down, put Solomon on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon.

The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites and they put him on the king’s mule.

and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, ¹  ‘If your descendants watch their step ²  and live faithfully in my presence ³  with all their heart and being, ⁴  then,’ he promised, ⁵  ‘you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶ 

“Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, ¹  who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. ²  He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised ³  him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down ⁴  with the sword.’

King Solomon answered his mother, “Why just request Abishag the Shunammite for him? ¹  Since he is my older brother, you should also request the kingdom for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

When King Solomon heard ¹  that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, ²  “Go, strike him down.”

Three years later two of Shimei’s servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told, “Look, your servants are in Gath.”