Part 348

24:14. And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.

24:15. And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men.

24:16. And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

24:17. And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father’s house.

24:18. And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

24:19. And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him.

24:20. And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him:

24:21. And going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.

24:22. And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

24:23. All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow.

24:24. And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee, at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver:

24:25. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

THE THIRD BOOK OF KINGS

This and the following Book are called by the holy fathers the third and fourth book of Kings; but by the Hebrews, the first and second. They contain the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Juda, from the beginning of the reign of Solomon, to the captivity. As to the writer of these books, it seems most probable they were not written by one man; nor at one time; but as there was all along a succession of prophets in Israel, who recorded, by divine inspiration, the most remarkable things that happened in their days, these books seem to have been written by these prophets. See 2 Paralip. alias 2 Chron. 9.29; 12.15; 13.22; 20.34; 26.22; 32.32.

3 Kings Chapter 1

King David growing old, Abisag a Sunamitess is brought to him. Adonias pretending to reign, Nathan and Bethsabee obtain that Solomon should be declared and anointed king.

1:1. Now king David was old, and advanced in years: and when he was covered with clothes he was not warm.

1:2. His servants therefore, said to him: Let us seek for our lord the king, a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and cherish him, and sleep in his bosom and warm our lord the king.

1:3. So they sought a beautiful young woman, in all the coasts of Israel and they found Abisag, a Sunamitess, and brought her to the king.

1:4. And the damsel was exceedingly beautiful, and she slept with the king, and served him, but the king did not know her.

1:5. And Adonias, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying: I will be king. And he made himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

1:6. Neither did his father rebuke him at any time, saying: Why hast thou done this? And he also was very beautiful, the next in birth after Absalom.

1:7. And he conferred with Joab, the son of Sarvia, and with Abiathar, the priest, who furthered Adonias’s side.

1:8. But Sadoc, the priest, and Banaias, the son of Joiada, and Nathan, the prophet, and Semei, and Rei, and the strength of David’s army, was not with Adonias.

1:9. And Adonias having slain rams and calves, and all fat cattle, by the stone of Zoheleth, which was near the fountain Rogel, invited all his brethren, the king’s sons, and all the men of Juda, the king’s servants:

1:10. But Nathan, the prophet, and Banaias, and all the valiant men, and Solomon, his brother, he invited not.

1:11. And Nathan said to Bethsabee, the mother of Solomon: Hast thou not heard that Adonias, the son of Haggith, reigneth, and our lord David knoweth it not?

1:12. Now then, come, take my counsel, and save thy life, and the life of thy son Solomon.