1 Kings 1:3
◄  1 Kings 1:3  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

New Living Translation (©2007)
So they searched throughout the land of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king.

English Standard Version (©2001)
So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
They searched for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel; they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.

International Standard Version (©2012)
So they conducted a search throughout the territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman, and Abishag the Shunammite was located and brought to the king.

NET Bible (©2006)
So they looked through all Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
So they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful, young woman. They found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
So they sought for a fair young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

American King James Version
So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

American Standard Version
So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Darby Bible Translation
And they sought for a fair damsel throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

English Revised Version
So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Webster's Bible Translation
So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunamite, and brought her to the king.

World English Bible
So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Young's Literal Translation
And they seek a fair young woman in all the border of Israel, and find Abishag the Shunammite, and bring her in to the king,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-4 We have David sinking under infirmities. He was chastised for his recent sins, and felt the effects of his former toils and hardships.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - So [Heb. and] they sought (cf. Esther 2:2), for a fair [this word points to the same conclusion as "virgin" in per. 2] damsel throughout all the coasts [i.e., borders (costa = rib, side). An old writer speaks of the "coasts and quarters of heaven"] of Israel, and found Abishag [ = "Father of error." Names compounded with Ab, "father," were and are very common in the East. We have, e.g., Ab-salom in Per. 6, and Abi-athar in Per. 7] a [Heb. the] Shunammite [Shunem, a town of Issachar (Joshua 19:18), now called Solam, "a flourishing village encompassed by gardens" (Porter), and "in the midst of the finest cornfields in the,world" (Grove), lies on the lower slope of "Little Hermon," and has before it the wide plain of Esdraelon. Another Shunammite appears in the sacred history (2 Kings 4:8)] and brought her to the king.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel,.... Not only a damsel, but a beautiful one, that she might be the more acceptable to the king; who otherwise, if deformed and ugly, would not have endured her in his sight, or received at her hands, and much less suffered her to lie in his bosom:

and found Abishag a Shunammite; a native of the city Shunem, a city in the tribe of Issachar, Joshua 19:18;

and brought her to the king; for his approbation of her, and to make her his concubine wife, as he did.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. a Shunammite—Shunem, in the tribe of Issachar (Jos 19:18), lay on an eminence in the plain of Esdraelon, five miles south of Tabor. It is now called Sulam.

1 Kings 1:3 Parallel Commentaries

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Abishag Cares for David
1Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. 2Why his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. 3So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

Joshua 19:18 Their territory included: Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem,
1 Samuel 28:4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa.
1 Kings 1:2 So his attendants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm."
1 Kings 1:4 The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.
1 Kings 2:17 So he continued, "Please ask King Solomon--he will not refuse you--to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."
1 Kings 2:21 So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah."