1 Kings 2

1When David's days came near to die, he commanded his son Solomon, saying.

2I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man.

3Keep the charge of Yahweh your God to walk in his ways and keep his statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so you succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.

4So that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke about me, saying, “If your sons guard their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, no man will be cut off from you on the throne of Israel.”

5Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two captains of Israel's armies, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, whom he killed, putting blood of war in peace and placing blood of war on his sash around his waist and in his shoes on his feet.

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

7Extend kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

8Look, Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite from Bahurim is with you; he cursed me with a severe curse on the day I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, "I will not kill you with the sword."

9Now therefore do not declare him blameless, for you are a wise man and know what you should do to him, and bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.

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

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

12Solomon sat on his father David's throne, and his kingdom was firmly established.

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

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

15He said, "You know the kingdom belonged to me, and all Israel looked to me to be king. But the kingdom turned and became my brother's, for it was his from Yahweh."

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

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

18Bathsheba said, "Good. I will speak for you to the king."

19Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, sat on his throne, set a throne for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.

20She 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."

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

22King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for the kingdom for him too, for he is my older brother—even for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah."

23King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "May God do thus to me and add still more if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life."

24Now, as Yahweh lives—who established me and set me on my father David's throne and made a house for me as he spoke—Adonijah shall die today.

25King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he fell upon him, and he died.

26The king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man deserving death, but today I will not kill you, because you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured affliction in all my father endured."

27Solomon drove Abiathar out from the priesthood of Yahweh to fulfill the word of Yahweh that he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28News reached Joab, since Joab had sided with Adonijah but not with Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh's tent and seized the horns of the altar.

29It was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to Yahweh's tent, and there he stood beside the altar. Solomon then sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go strike him."

30Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh and said to him, "The king says, 'Come out.'" He replied, "No, for I will die here." Benaiah brought word to the king, saying, "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me."

31The king said to him, "Do as he said, fall upon him, and bury him, so that you remove the innocent blood Joab shed without cause from me and from my father's house."

32Yahweh will return his blood upon his own head, because he fell upon two righteous and better men than he and killed them with the sword, my father David unaware of Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army.

33Their blood will return on Joab’s head and on the head of his descendants forever, but David, his descendants, his house, and his throne will have peace forever from Yahweh.

34Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, fell upon him, and killed him; and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.

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

36The king sent and called Shimei, saying to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere."

37It shall be that on the day you go out and cross the Kidron brook, you shall surely know that you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your head.

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

39After three years, two of Shimei's servants fled to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, "Look, your servants are in Gath."

40Shimei rose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish in Gath to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

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

42The king sent and called Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh and charge you, saying, 'Know for sure that on the day you go out and walk anywhere, you will surely die'? You said to me, 'The word I have heard is good.'"

43Why have you not kept Yahweh's oath and the commandment that I commanded you?

44The king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil your heart knows you did to David my father, and Yahweh will return your evil on your head."

45King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will stand firm before Yahweh forever.

46The king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him so that he died. The kingdom was established in Solomon's hand.