1When the days of David drew near for him to die, he charged Solomon his son, saying:
2“I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, then, and be a man,
3and keep the charge of Yahweh your God, walking in his ways, keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
4so that Yahweh may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying: ‘If your sons watch their way, walking before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their self, then a man of yours shall never be cut off from 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 — killing them and shedding the blood of war in peace, putting the blood of war on the belt that was around his waist and on the sandal that was on his feet.
6So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
7But to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite show loyal love, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for so they drew near to me when I fled from before Absalom your brother.
8And behold, with you is Shimei son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim, and 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 Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’
9But now do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
10Then David lay down with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.
12So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
13Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace.”
14Then he said, “I have a word for you.” And she said, “Speak.”
15He said, “You yourself know that the kingship was mine, and that all Israel had set their faces on me to reign. But the kingship turned about and became my brother’s, for it was his from Yahweh.
16And now I ask one request of you; do not turn away my face.” And she said to him, “Speak.”
17So he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king — for he will not turn away your face — that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
18And Bathsheba said, “Good; I myself will speak to the king on your behalf.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah, and 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.
20Then she said, “I ask one small request of you; do not turn away my face.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away your face.”
21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.”
22And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingship for him too — for he is my older brother — for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”
23Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “So may God do to me, and so may he add, if Adonijah has not spoken this word at the cost of his life!
24And now, as Yahweh lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father and who has made me a house as he promised — surely today Adonijah shall be put to death!”
25So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.
26And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man deserving of death; but on this day I will not put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father and because you shared in all the affliction my father suffered.”
27So Solomon drove out Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, fulfilling the word of Yahweh that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28Now the report reached Joab — for Joab had turned aside after Adonijah, though he had not turned aside after Absalom — and Joab fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar.
29And it was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh, and behold, he was beside the altar. So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”
30So Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh and said to him, “Thus says the king: Come out!” But he said, “No, for here I will die.” And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.”
31And the king said to him, “Do as he has spoken; strike him down and bury him, and so you will remove from me and from my father’s house the blood that Joab shed without cause.
32And Yahweh will bring back his blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword—while 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.
33Their blood will return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his offspring forever; but to David, and to his offspring, and to his house, and to his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.”
34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
35And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
36Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere at all.
37For it will be that on the day you go out and cross the Wadi Kidron, you shall surely know that you shall surely die; your blood will be on your own head.”
38And Shimei said to the king, “The word is good; as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do.” And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39And it came to pass at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and they told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.”
40So Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went and brought his servants back from Gath.
41And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.
42Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and walk anywhere at all, you shall surely know that you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I have heard.’
43So why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command that I charged upon you?”
44And the king said to Shimei, “You yourself know all the evil that your heart knows, which you did to my father David; so Yahweh will bring back your evil upon your own head.
45But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever.”
46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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