1 Kings 2:20

20 She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

1 Kings 2:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 2:20

Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee
It was but one, and a little one, and therefore she hoped it would be granted:

[I pray thee], say me not nay;
do not refuse it, or deny it me, or turn away my thee with shame and disappointment:

and the king said, ask on, my mother, for I will not say thee nay;
since it is a small one, as thou sayest, and provided it is fit and lawful to be granted.

1 Kings 2:20 In-Context

18 Then Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you."

19 Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

20 She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

21 Then she said, "Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and [ask] for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "not turn my face"
• [b]. Literally "not turn your face"