"And Nathan said, 'My lord the king, have you said, "Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit upon my throne"?'" — Nathan's opening question employs the same rhetorical technique as Bathsheba—he does not state facts but asks whether David has *declared* them. The verb *amar* (said) implies public proclamation, not private intention. Nathan's question is accusatory in its form: he is asking whether David has authorized Adonijah's coronation. The use of *'attah* (you yourself) in the conditional creates a hypothetical even as Nathan knows the answer is negative. This is prophetic interrogation, similar to Nathan's confrontation over Bathsheba in 2 Sam 12:7 ("Thou art the man")—a technique that forces the king to acknowledge his own failure or default.

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