"Go in at once to King David, and say to him, 'Did not you, my lord the king, swear to your handmaid, saying, "Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit upon my throne"? Why then is Adonijah king?'"" — Nathan scripts Bathsheba's speech, invoking a *shevua'* (oath) apparently sworn by David to Bathsheba—an oath not previously narrated but strategically introduced here. The appeal to *'adoniy ha-melekh* (my lord the king) uses the language of vassalage and submission, yet Bathsheba is positioned as keeper of the king's word. The quotation within quotation—the alleged oath—establishes Solomon's claim as *covenantally grounded* in David's own solemn word. The rhetorical question "Why then is Adonijah king?" frames Adonijah's action as violation of David's sworn obligation. Whether or not the oath was explicitly spoken, Nathan and Bathsheba are now establishing it as the touchstone of legitimacy.

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