Bible Strands
1 Kings 1:6
(His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes David’s failure to correct Adonijah during the son’s open campaign to claim the throne. This occurs as Adonijah secures military support and publicly declares his kingship.
The words — עֲצָב/וֹ (a.tza.V/o) means “he had rebuked/him,” and מַדּוּעַ (ma.Du.a') translates to “why?” David never issued a parental rebuke asking why Adonijah acted this way.
The thread — The text notes Adonijah was “born next after Absalom,” linking to 2 Samuel 3:3 and 1 Chronicles 3:2 where Absalom is listed as the third son. The absence of correction contrasts with 1 Samuel 3:13 where God judges Eli’s house for unrebuked sons.
Why it lands — The verse records a factual omission: David’s restraint enabled Adonijah’s unchecked ambition. It asks the reader to trace how permissive parenting and ignored warnings directly fuel political rebellion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 3:3 his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;
- 1 Samuel 3:13 I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them.
- 1 Chronicles 3:2 the third was Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith;
- Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
- Proverbs 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
- Proverbs 29:15 A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
- Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- 1 Samuel 9:2 And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the people.
- 1 Samuel 10:23 So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.
- 2 Samuel 14:25 Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.