1 Kings 2:20

20 Then she said, "I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Ask it, 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 So Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak for you to the king."

19 Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king's mother; so she sat at his right hand.

20 Then she said, "I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

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

22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also--for he is my older brother--for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."