2:1 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2:2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man,
2:3 and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,
2:4 and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
2:5 “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me–what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
2:6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
2:7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
2:8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’
2:9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”
2:10 Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
2:11 He had reigned forty years over Israel–seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
2:12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
2:13 Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?” He answered, “Yes, peacefully.”
2:14 Then he added, “I have something to say to you.” “You may say it,” she replied.
2:15 “As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the LORD.
2:16 Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.” “You may make it,” she said.
2:17 So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon–he will not refuse you–to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
2:18 “Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”
2:19 When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
2:20 “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.” The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”
2:21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”
2:22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him–after all, he is my older brother–yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
2:23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request!
2:24 And now, as surely as the LORD lives–he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised–Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
2:25 So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
2:26 To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign LORD before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.”
2:27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD, fulfilling the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
2:28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
2:29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”
2:30 So Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”
2:31 Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father’s house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed.
2:32 The LORD will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them–Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army–were better men and more upright than he.
2:33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the LORD’S peace forever.”
2:34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert.
2:35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.
2:36 Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.
2:37 The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
2:38 Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.
2:39 But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.”
2:40 At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.
2:41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,
2:42 the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’
2:43 Why then did you not keep your oath to the LORD and obey the command I gave you?”
2:44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the LORD will repay you for your wrongdoing.
2:45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain secure before the LORD forever.”
2:46 Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and killed him. The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon’s hands.
2:1 When David s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
2:2 I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong therefore and be a man;
2:3 And keep the commandment of Jehovah your God by walking in His ways, by keeping His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances and His testimonies as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;
2:4 That Jehovah may establish His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way by walking before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail ? He said ? to be a man upon the throne of Israel for you.
2:5 Furthermore you know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, by that which he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew; and he shed the blood of war in peace and put the blood of war upon his girdle around his loins and upon his sandals that are on his feet.
2:6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray-haired head go down into Sheol in peace.
2:7 And show mercy to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they drew near to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
2:8 And now there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, I shall not kill you with the sword.
2:9 Now therefore do not hold him guiltless; for you are a wise man, and you will know what to do to him. And you shall bring his gray-haired head down into Sheol with blood.
2:10 And David slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David.
2:11 And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.
2:12 And Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
2:13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.
2:14 Then he said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Speak.
2:15 And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel looked to me to reign; but the kingdom has turned and has become my brother s, for it was of Jehovah to be his.
2:16 Now therefore I ask one thing of you; do not refuse me. And she said to him, Speak.
2:17 And he said, Please tell Solomon the king ? for he will not refuse you ? to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.
2:18 And Bath-sheba said, Fine; I will speak to the king for you.
2:19 So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself before her; and he sat on his throne and had a throne set for the king s mother, and she sat at his right hand.
2:20 And she said, Let me ask one small thing of you; do not refuse me. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.
2:21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.
2:22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, since he is my older brother, indeed for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.
2:23 Then King Solomon swore by Jehovah saying, God do so to me, and even more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.
2:24 Now therefore as Jehovah lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as He has promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.
2:25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down so that he died.
2:26 And to Abiathar the priest, the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death; but I will not kill you at this time, for you bore the Ark of the Lord Jehovah before David my father and you suffered affliction in all that my father suffered.
2:27 So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being a priest to Jehovah, fulfilling the word of Jehovah which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
2:28 And the report came to Joab, for Joab had followed after Adonijah, though he had not followed after Absalom. And Joab fled into the Tent of Jehovah, and he took hold of the horns of the altar.
2:29 And when it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled into the Tent of Jehovah and that he was just then beside the altar, Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go and strike him down.
2:30 And Benaiah came to the Tent of Jehovah and said to him, Thus says the king, Come out. And he said, No; rather I will die here. Then Benaiah brought word to the king again, saying, Thus has Joab said, and thus has he answered me.
2:31 And the king said to him, Do as he has spoken, and strike him down and bury him, that you may remove the blood which Joab has shed without cause from me and from my father s house.
2:32 And Jehovah will return his blood upon his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than himself and slew them with the sword, though my father David did not know of it, that is, Abner the son of Ner, the captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the captain of the army of Judah.
2:33 So their blood shall return upon Joab s head and upon his seed s head forever, but to David and to his seed and to his house and to his throne there shall be peace forever from Jehovah.
2:34 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and killed him, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.
2:35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put Zadok the priest in Abiathar s place.
2:36 Then the king sent word and called for Shimei. And he said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there; and you shall not go forth from there to any place whatever.
2:37 For on the day that you go forth and cross over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood will be upon your own head.
2:38 And Shimei said to the king, This word is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
2:39 Then at the end of three years two of Shimei s servants ran off to Achish the son of Maacah, the king of Gath; and they told Shimei, saying, Your servants are now in Gath.
2:40 So Shimei rose up and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, unto Achish, to seek his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
2:41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.
2:42 So the king sent word and called for Shimei; and he said to him, Did I not make you swear by Jehovah and solemnly warn you, saying, On the day that you go forth and travel to any place whatever, know for certain that you shall surely die? And you said to me, This word that I have heard is good.
2:43 Why then have you not kept the oath of Jehovah and the commandment that I charged you with?
2:44 And the king said to Shimei, You yourself know all the evil, which your heart is conscious of, that you did to David my father; and Jehovah will return your evil upon your own head.
2:45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Jehovah forever.
2:46 So the king gave commands to Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.