Bible Strands
1 Kings 2:17
Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Adonijah addresses Bathsheba immediately after she agrees to intercede with Solomon. He uses her guaranteed access to the throne to deliver his final petition.
The words — The Hebrew אִמְרִי־ ('imri) commands her to "speak," and יָשִׁׁיב (yashiv) literally means "he will turn away" or "refuse." Adonijah states that Solomon will not refuse her request.
The thread — The text runs parallel to 2 Samuel 3:7 and 2 Samuel 12:8, where taking a king's concubine or wives functions as a political claim to the throne. It also points back to 1 Kings 1:2, where Abishag was originally selected to attend to the aging David.
Why it lands — The passage records a direct challenge to Solomon's succession disguised as a marital request. It requires the reader to identify how a personal favor operates as a constitutional threat.
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 he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 3:7 Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”
- 2 Samuel 12:8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.
- 1 Kings 1:2 So his servants said to him, “Let us search for a young virgin for our lord the king, to attend to him and care for him and lie by his side to keep him warm.”