1. King David was now a very old man, and although his servants covered him with blankets, he could not keep warm.
2. So his officials said to him, “Your Majesty, let us find a young woman to stay with you and take care of you. She will lie close to you and keep you warm.”
3. A search was made all over Israel for a beautiful young woman, and in Shunem they found such a woman named Abishag, and brought her to the king.
4. She was very beautiful, and waited on the king and took care of him, but he did not have intercourse with her.
5-6. Now that Absalom was dead, Adonijah, the son of David and Haggith, was the eldest surviving son. He was a very handsome man. David had never reprimanded him about anything, and he was ambitious to be king. He provided for himself chariots, horses, and an escort of fifty men.
7. He talked with Joab (whose mother was Zeruiah) and with Abiathar the priest, and they agreed to support his cause.
8. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David's bodyguard were not on Adonijah's side.
9. One day Adonijah offered a sacrifice of sheep, bulls, and fattened calves at Snake Rock, near the spring of Enrogel. He invited the other sons of King David and the king's officials who were from Judah to come to this sacrificial feast,
10. but he did not invite his half brother Solomon or Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the king's bodyguard.
11. Then Nathan went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and asked her, “Haven't you heard that Haggith's son Adonijah has made himself king? And King David doesn't know anything about it!