Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 1:10 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 10. 10But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition: “But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Adonijah claims the throne and gathers allies.”
Adonijah exalts himself before anyone crowns him
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 1:5–10. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Kings 1:5–10
Read 1 Kings 1:10 with 1:5–10. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Introduces Adonijah's self-exaltation and royal display as he declares that he will be king; marks Nathan, Benaiah, the mighty men, and Solomon as deliberate exclusions from Adonijah's feast.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Adonijah claims the throne and gathers allies,” 1 Kings 1:10 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 1:1–4 establishes this prior movement: Opens the succession crisis by showing David unable to keep warm in advanced age; distinguishes Abishag's intimate service from sexual relations with David. 1 Kings 1:5–10 continues the same royal, temple, household, prophetic, or military movement; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 1:5–10 together
Why these verses belong together: Adonijah claims the throne and gathers allies is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 1:5–1:10.
Verse 5. 5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
Verse 6. 6 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.
Verse 7. 7 And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.
Verse 8. 8 But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.
Verse 9. 9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants:
Verse 10. 10 But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
What Remains True
Public power and worship remain accountable to truth, covenant faithfulness, affected people, and consequences rather than title, success, wealth, or majority support. This unit tests that truth through introduces Adonijah's self-exaltation and royal display as he declares that he will be king; marks Nathan, Benaiah, the mighty men, and Solomon as deliberate exclusions from Adonijah's feast. In 1 Kings 1:10, the concrete line “But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Kings 1:5–10 — Adonijah claims the throne and gathers alliesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 1:5–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:5–10
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 584–586, translation and translator notes for 1:5–10
Open source ↗