1 Kings 2

¹And the days of David drew near to die, and he commanded Solomon his son, saying:

²I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man.

³And you shall keep the charge of the LORD your God by walking in his ways, keeping his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.

⁴in order that the LORD may confirm his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons keep their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, saying, there shall not be cut off for you a man from the throne of Israel.

⁵Moreover, you also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel — to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether — he killed them and shed the blood of war in peacetime, and placed the blood of war on his belt around his waist and on his sandal on his feet.

⁶And you shall act according to your wisdom; do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

⁷And to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite you shall show kindness, and they shall be among those who eat at your table, for so they drew near to me when I fled from before Absalom your brother.

⁸And look, with you is Shimei son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim; he cursed me with a grievous curse on the day I went to Mahanaim, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, 'I will not put you to death by the sword.'

⁹And now, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man, and you will know what you shall do with him, and you shall bring his grey head down to Sheol in blood.

¹⁰And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

¹¹And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

¹²And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

¹³And Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, mother of Solomon. And she said, 'Do you come in peace?' And he said, 'In peace.'

¹⁴And he said, 'I have a word for you.' And she said, 'Speak.'

¹⁵And he said: You know that the kingship was mine, and all Israel set their faces on me to reign; but the kingship turned and became my brother's, for from the LORD it was his.

¹⁶And now, I have one petition to ask of you; do not refuse me. And she said to him, 'Speak.'

¹⁷And he said, 'Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not turn away your face, and let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.'

¹⁸And Bathsheba said, 'Good; I will speak to the king on your behalf.'

¹⁹And Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king arose to meet her and bowed to her, then sat on his throne; and he set a throne for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.

²⁰And she said, 'I am asking one small petition of you; do not turn away my face.' And the king said to her, 'Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away your face.'

²¹And she said, 'Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.'

²²And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, 'And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingship for him, for he is my elder brother, and for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah.'

²³And King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying: May God do so to me and more also, for Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴And now, as the LORD lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made for me a dynasty as he promised, surely today Adonijah shall be put to death.

²⁵And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.

²⁶And to Abiathar the priest the king said: Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man of death; but on this day I will not put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you suffered in all that my father suffered.

²⁷And Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

²⁸And the report came to Joab — for Joab had inclined after Adonijah, though after Absalom he had not inclined — and Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and grasped the horns of the altar.

²⁹And it was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD; and there he was, beside the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, 'Go, strike him down.'

³⁰And Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, 'Thus the king has said: Come out.' And he said, 'No, for here I will die.' And Benaiah returned word to the king, saying, 'Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.'

³¹And the king said to him: Do as he has spoken, and strike him down and bury him; and remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from me and from the house of my father.

³²And the LORD will bring back his blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword — my father David not knowing of it: Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

³³And their blood shall come back upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants forever; but to David and to his descendants and to his house and to his throne shall there be peace forever from the LORD.

³⁴And Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him and put him to death; and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.

³⁵And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and Zadok the priest the king appointed in place of Abiathar.

³⁶And the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, 'Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to anywhere.'

³⁷And it shall be that on the day you go out and cross the Kidron wadi, know for certain that you will surely die; your blood will be on your own head.

³⁸And Shimei said to the king, 'Good is the word that my lord the king has spoken; so shall your servant do.' And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹And it happened, at the end of three years, that two of Shimei's servants fled to Achish son of Maacah king of Gath; and they told Shimei, saying, 'Look, your servants are in Gath.'

⁴⁰And Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

⁴¹And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned.

⁴²And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, 'Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, saying, On the day you go out and go wherever you will, know well that you shall surely die? And you said to me, The word is good; I have heard it.'

⁴³'And why did you not keep the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I commanded you?'

⁴⁴And the king said to Shimei, 'You yourself know all the bad that your heart knows, which you did to David my father; and the LORD will return your bad upon your head.'

⁴⁵And King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.

⁴⁶And the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died; and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.