1 Kings 2

2 ¹When 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 and prove yourself a man. ³Keep the charge of your Father: walk in his ways and keep his statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so you prosper in all you do, wherever you turn, ⁴so that our Father will confirm the word he spoke about me: 'If your sons guard their way, walking before me faithfully with all their heart and all their soul, you will never lack a man on Israel's throne.'

⁵You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Israel's two army commanders, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding the blood of war in peacetime, and he put the blood of war on the belt at his waist and the sandals on his feet. ⁶Act by your wisdom; don't let his gray head go down to the grave in peace. ⁷Show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite; let them be among those who eat at your table, for they stood by me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸With you is Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me bitterly the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by our Father, 'I will not kill you with the sword.' ⁹So do not let him go unpunished. You are wise; you will know what to do to him—bring his gray head down to the grave in blood."

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

Adonijah's Fatal Request

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

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

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

¹⁷He said, "Please ask King Solomon—he won't refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."

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

¹⁹Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, and sat on his throne. He had a throne set for the king's mother, and she sat at his right. ²⁰She said, "I have one small request; don't refuse me." The king said, "Ask, my mother; I won't refuse you."

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

²²King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him too—he's my older brother—for him, Abiathar the priest, and Joab son of Zeruiah!" ²³Then King Solomon swore by our Father: "May he do so to me, and more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! ²⁴Now then, as surely as our Father lives—who established me, set me on the throne of David my father, and made me a house as he promised—Adonijah will be put to death today."

²⁵So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck Adonijah down, and he died. ²⁶The king told Abiathar the priest, "Go to your own fields at Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won't kill you now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Father before my father David and shared in all his hardships." ²⁷So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of our Father, fulfilling our Father's word spoken at Shiloh about Eli's house.

²⁸News reached Joab—who had sided with Adonijah, not Absalom—so he fled to our Father's tent and seized the horns of the altar. ²⁹King Solomon was told Joab had fled to our Father's tent and was beside the altar. So he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him down."

³⁰Benaiah came to the tent of our Father and told Joab, "The king says, Come out." He answered, "No, I'll die here." Benaiah reported to the king, "This is what Joab said, and how he answered me."

³¹The king said, "Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and clear from me and my father's house the innocent blood Joab shed. ³²Our Father will return his bloodguilt on his own head, for he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, killing 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. ³³Their blood returns on Joab's head and his descendants' heads forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there will be peace from our Father forever."

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

³⁶Then the king summoned Shimei and told him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there; don't leave it for anywhere else. ³⁷For on the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for certain you will surely die; your blood on your own head."

³⁸Shimei said to the king, "Your word is good. As my lord the king said, so your servant will do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem a long time.

³⁹After three years, two of Shimei's servants fled to Achish son of Maakah, king of Gath. Shimei was told, "Your servants are in Gath."

⁴⁰So Shimei got up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to look for his servants; then went and brought them from Gath. ⁴¹When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, ⁴²the king sent for Shimei and said, "Didn't I make you swear by our Father and warn you, 'The day you leave and go anywhere, know for sure you will die'? And you told me, 'Your word is good; I'll obey.' ⁴³Why then didn't you keep the oath you swore before our Father and the command I gave you?" ⁴⁴The 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 evil back on your own head. ⁴⁵But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David established before our Father forever." ⁴⁶The king ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was secured in Solomon's hands.