"Then she said, 'I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.' The king said to her, 'Ask, my mother; for I will not refuse you.'" — Bathsheba echoes Adonijah's language: *sha'alah davar 'echad katon mimkha* (I ask one small thing). Solomon's response is emphatic: *sha'ali immi ki lo-a'atzek* (ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you). The king's commitment is absolute. The narrative has set up a trap: Solomon has granted his mother a blank check, and now she will spend it on behalf of Adonijah.

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