1 Kings 2

¹ When David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying,

² "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man,

³ and keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn,

⁴ so that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons guard their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not be cut off from you a man on the throne of Israel.'"

⁵ "Moreover, you yourself 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 peace, and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist and on his sandals that were on his feet.

⁶ Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace."

⁷ "But show loyal love to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they drew near to me when I fled from Absalom your brother."

⁸ "And 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. But 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 with the sword.'

⁹ Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."

¹⁰ Then David lay down with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

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

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

¹³ Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come in peace?" He said, "In peace."

¹⁴ Then he said, "I have a word for you." She said, "Speak."

¹⁵ He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel had set their faces toward me to reign. But the kingdom turned around and became my brother's, for it was his from the LORD.

¹⁶ Now I am asking one request of you; do not refuse me." She said to him, "Speak."

¹⁷ He said, "Please speak to King Solomon—for he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife."

¹⁸ Bathsheba said, "Good. I will speak to the king on your behalf."

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a throne set for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.

²⁰ She said, "I am asking one small request of you; do not refuse me." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

²¹ She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife."

²² King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well!—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!"

²³ Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life!

²⁴ Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and who has made me a house as he promised—today Adonijah shall be put to death!"

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

²⁶ To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man of death. But I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all the hardship that my father endured."

²⁷ So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

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

²⁹ It was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was beside the altar. Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him down."

³⁰ Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Come out.'" But he said, "No! I will die here." So Benaiah brought word back to the king, saying, "Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me."

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

³² The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than himself and killed them with the sword—and my father David did not know—Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

³³ Their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and his descendants and his house and his throne, there will be peace from the LORD forever."

³⁴ So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death, and he was buried at his house in the wilderness.

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

³⁶ Then 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 any place.

³⁷ For on the day you go out and cross the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head."

³⁸ Shimei said to the king, "The word is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do." And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei's slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Look, your slaves are in Gath."

⁴⁰ So Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his slaves. Shimei went and brought his slaves back from Gath.

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

⁴² The king sent and summoned 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 travel anywhere, know for certain that you will surely die'? And you said to me, 'The word is good; I have heard.'

⁴³ Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I commanded you?"

⁴⁴ The king also said to Shimei, "You know in your heart all the evil that you did to David my father. Now the LORD will return your evil on your own head.

⁴⁵ But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the LORD forever."

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