Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 1:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21Otherwise 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.
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: “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Bathsheba appeals to David.”
Read It With
- 1 Kings 1:15–21
Read 1 Kings 1:21 with 1:15–21. 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: Places Bathsheba, the aged David, and the serving Abishag together in the royal chamber; names the lethal political risk Bathsheba and Solomon anticipate after David's death.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Bathsheba appeals to David,” 1 Kings 1:21 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 1:11–14 establishes this prior movement: Has Nathan alert Bathsheba that Adonijah is acting as king without David's knowledge; sets Nathan's planned entrance as corroboration while Bathsheba is still speaking. 1 Kings 1:15–21 responds to the pressure, request, or claim already established; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 1:15–21 together
Why these verses belong together: Bathsheba appeals to David is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 1:15–1:21.
Verse 15. 15 And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king.
Verse 16. 16 And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou?
Verse 17. 17 And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.
Verse 18. 18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth; and now, my lord the king, thou knowest it not:
Verse 19. 19 And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called.
Verse 20. 20 And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
Verse 21. 21 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.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for every person exposed, silenced, displaced, injured, or killed even when the narrative also reports fulfillment or victory. This unit tests that truth through places Bathsheba, the aged David, and the serving Abishag together in the royal chamber; names the lethal political risk Bathsheba and Solomon anticipate after David's death. In 1 Kings 1:21, the concrete line “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I….” When authority exposes people to violence, preserve evidence, protect those at risk, require independent lawful review, and refuse retaliation, collective blame, or celebration of harm. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Places Bathsheba, the aged David, and the serving Abishag together in the royal chamber; names the lethal political risk Bathsheba and Solomon anticipate after David's death.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Kings 1:15–21 — Bathsheba appeals to DavidSources 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 1:15–21, 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 1:15–21
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 1:15–21
Open source ↗