1 Kings 2

2 ¹ When the time drew near for David to die, he charged Solomon his son: ² "I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. ³ Keep the charge of your Father — walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn. ⁴ Then our Father will confirm the word he spoke concerning me: 'If your sons watch their way, to walk before me faithfully with all their heart and all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁵ Moreover, you 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 the blood of war in a time of peace, and he put the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals 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 kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they stood by me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸ And there is with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a bitter curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by our Father, 'I will not put you to death by the sword.' ⁹ Now therefore do not hold him guiltless. You are a wise man and will know what to do to him; bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.

David Rests with His Fathers

¹⁰ Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Adonijah's Fatal Request

¹³ Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, "Do you come in peace?" "In peace," he said.

¹⁴ Then he said, "I have something to say to you." "Say it," she replied.

¹⁵ He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel looked to me to reign. But the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from our Father. ¹⁶ Now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me." "Say it," she said.

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

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

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed down to her, and sat on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand. ²⁰ Then she said, "I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me." The king said to her, "Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

²¹ So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife."

²² King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him as well — for he is my older brother — yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!" ²³ Then King Solomon swore by our Father: "So may he do to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life!" ²⁴ Now therefore, as surely as our Father 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 — Adonijah will be put to death today.

²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck Adonijah down, and he died. ²⁶ To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Father before David my father and shared in all my father's hardships." ²⁷ So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to our Father, fulfilling the word our Father had spoken at Shiloh concerning the house of Eli.

Justice Comes to Joab

²⁸ When the news reached Joab — for Joab had sided with Adonijah, though he had not sided with Absalom — he fled to the tent of our Father and took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of our Father and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him down."

³⁰ Benaiah came to the tent of our Father and said to Joab, "The king says, Come out." But he answered, "No, I will die here." So Benaiah brought word back to the king: "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me."

³¹ The king said to him, "Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from my father's house the innocent blood that Joab shed." ³² Our Father will bring his bloodguilt back on his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword — Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army — without my father David's knowledge. ³³ Their blood will come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but for David and his descendants, his house and his throne, there will be peace from our Father forever.

³⁴ So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck Joab down, and killed him; and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness. ³⁵ The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab's place, and he put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

Shimei Breaks His Oath

³⁶ Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place at all. ³⁷ For on the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for certain that you will surely die; your blood will be on your own head.

³⁸ Shimei said to the king, "What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do." And Shimei lived in Jerusalem a long time.

³⁹ But at the end of three years, two of Shimei's servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, "Look, your servants are in Gath."

⁴⁰ So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to look for his servants; he went and brought them back from Gath. ⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, ⁴² the king sent for Shimei and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by our Father and warn you, 'On the day you go out and travel anywhere, know for certain that you will surely die'? And you said to me, 'What you say is good; I will obey.' ⁴³ Why then have you not kept the oath you swore before our Father and the command I gave you?" ⁴⁴ The king also said to Shimei, "You know in your own heart all the wrong you did to David my father. Now our Father will bring your wickedness back on your own head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before our Father forever. ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon's hands.