"Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, 'Let my lord King David live for ever.'" — Bathsheba's *second prostration* expresses gratitude and validates David's decision through her body language. The acclamation *yechi adoni ha-melekh le'olam* (let my lord the king live forever) is the formal blessing of kingship, the counterpart to Adonijah's would-be subjects crying "Long live King Adonijah." Yet here, the acclamation is for *David*—Bathsheba's gesture affirms David's continuing sovereignty even as she secures Solomon's succession. The verb *va-tishtachav* is her second obeisance in this scene, emphasizing her submission to David's authority and her satisfaction with his exercise of it. The ritual words *le'olam* (forever) invoke the eternal duration of the Davidic dynasty promised in the covenant (2 Sam 7).

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