1 Kings 1:21
in 1 Kings 1Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be counted as criminals.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
KJV
Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
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This verse in 1 Kings 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shall sleep - This euphemism for death, rare in the early Scriptures - being found only once in the Pentateuch (margin reference.), and once also in the historical books before Kings 2Sa 7:12 - becomes in Kings and Chronicles the ordinary mode of speech (see 1Ki 2:10; 1Ki 11:43, etc.; 2Ch 9:31; 2Ch 12:16, etc.). David uses the metaphor in one psalm Psa 13:3. In the later Scriptures it is, of course, common. (Jer 51:39; Dan 12:2; Mat 9:24; Joh 11:11; 1Co 11:30; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:14, etc.)
This site's exposition
Solomon thy servant hath he not called
on 1 Kings 1:19-21
Bathsheba repeats the guest list from Adonijah's feast, oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, Abiathar the priest and Joab the captain of the host, and repeats that Solomon was not called. She frames the danger in language David cannot ignore, the eyes of all Israel are upon him to name a successor, and warns that she and Solomon will be counted offenders the moment David dies. That word is her own estimate of what a losing claimant becomes under a new king, and 2:13-25 will show the estimate held.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Athanasius of Alexandria296–373
Discourses Against the Arians 2.3-4 · Written before 373.
proposed
Thus fathers often call their sons their servants, yet without denying the genuineness of their nature. In fact, they often affectionately call their own servants children, yet without losing sight of the fact they did purchase them originally. For they use the one appellation from their authority as fathers, but in the other they speak from affection. Thus Sara called Abraham lord, although she was not a servant but a wife.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers,....
The king is told that Nathan the prophet has come, and he is sure to be always welcome to the king, especially when either he is not well or has any great affair upon his thoughts; for, in either case, a prophet will be, in a particular manner, serviceable to him.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Adonijah, in common with the people generally, expected that this natural arrangement should be followed in the Hebrew kingdom as in all others. Nathan, who was aware of the old king's solemn promise to Solomon, and, moreover, that this promise was sanctioned by the divine will, saw that no time was to be lost.
Shall be counted offenders - When Adonijah and his party shall find that I and my son have had this promise from thee by oath, he will slay us both.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיָ֕ה | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כִּשְׁכַ֥ב | kishkhav | when lies down | H7901 → | 212 times |
| אֲדֹנִֽי־ | ʾadoni- | lord my | H113 → | 333 times |
| הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֲבֹתָ֑יו | ʾavotav | ancestors his | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וְהָיִ֗יתִי | vehayiti | and I will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אֲנִ֛י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| וּבְנִ֥י | uveni | and son my | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה | shelomoh | Solomon | H8010 → | 291 times |
| חַטָּאִֽים׃ | chataim | sinners | H2400 → |
וְהָיָ֕הand it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
כִּשְׁכַ֥בwhen lies down
kishkhavH7901 →212 times
אֲדֹנִֽי־lord my
ʾadoni-H113 →333 times
הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אֲבֹתָ֑יוancestors his
ʾavotavH1 →1212 times
וְהָיִ֗יתִיand I will be
vehayitiH1961 →3559 times
אֲנִ֛יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
וּבְנִ֥יand son my
uveniH1121 →4930 times
שְׁלֹמֹ֖הSolomon
shelomohH8010 →291 times
חַטָּאִֽים׃sinners
chataimH2400 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Samuel 7:12And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
it leads to
- Acts 13:36
For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 8:20
Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for…
- Acts 2:30
But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne.
- Acts 13:36
Through
Genesis 15:15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
it leads to
- Job 5:26
You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
- Genesis 25:7–9
Abraham lived a total of 175 years.
- Job 5:26
Through
Deuteronomy 31:16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will…
it leads to
- Judges 10:6
And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus…
- Judges 2:12
Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down…
- Judges 10:13
But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
- Judges 10:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About 1 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, Discourses Against the Arians 2.3-4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.