1 Kings 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

David’s Command to Solomon

2Then David’s ¹^,^atime to die drew near, so he commanded Solomon his son, saying, ²“^aI am going the way of all the earth. ^bSo you shall be strong, and be a man. ³“And you shall keep the responsibility given by Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, ^aaccording to what is written in the Law of Moses, that ^byou may be prosperous in all that you do and wherever you turn, ⁴so that ^aYahweh may establish His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘^bIf your sons keep their way, ^cto walk before Me in ¹truth with all their heart and with all their soul, He said, ²^,^dyou shall not have a man cut off from the throne of Israel.’

⁵“Now you also know what Joab the ^ason of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to ^bAbner the son of Ner, and to ^cAmasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also ¹shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt ²about his ³waist, and on his sandals ⁴on his feet. ⁶“^aSo act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷“But ^ashow lovingkindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and ^blet them be among those who eat at your table; ^cfor they ¹assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ⁸“Behold, ^athere is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a ¹violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when ^bhe came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹“So now, do not let him go unpunished, ^afor you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood.”

The Death of David

¹⁰Then ^aDavid slept with his fathers and was buried in ^bthe city of David. ¹¹^aAnd the ¹time which David reigned over Israel was forty years; in Hebron he reigned ^bseven years and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ¹²And ^aSolomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Adonijah’s Request

¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “^aDo you come peacefully?” And he said, “Peacefully.” ¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” ¹⁵So he said, “You know that ^athe kingdom was mine and ^bthat all Israel ¹expected me to be king; ^chowever, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, ^dfor it was his from Yahweh. ¹⁶“So now, I am making one request of you; do not ¹turn me away.” And she said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not ¹turn you away, that he may give me ^aAbishag the Shunammite as a wife.” ¹⁸And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

Adonijah Put to Death

¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he ^ahad a throne set for the king’s mother, and ^bshe sat on his right. ²⁰Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; ^ado not turn ¹me away.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn ²you away.” ²¹So she said, “^aLet Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” ²²Then King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ^aAsk for him also the kingdom—^bfor he is my older brother—even for him, for ^cAbiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” ²³Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has ^anot spoken this word against his own ¹life. ²⁴“So now, as Yahweh lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and ^awho has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” ²⁵So King Solomon ^asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.

²⁶Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “^aGo to Anathoth to your own field, ^bfor you ¹deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because ^cyou carried the ark of Lord Yahweh before my father David, and because ^dyou were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” ²⁷So Solomon drove Abiathar away from being priest to Yahweh, in order to fulfill ^athe word of Yahweh, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Put to Death

²⁸Now the news came to Joab, ^afor Joab had followed Adonijah, ^balthough he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of Yahweh and ^ctook hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹And it was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon ^asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “^bGo, fall upon him.” ³⁰So Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh and said to him, “Thus the king has said, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹And the king said to him, “^aDo as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, ^bthat you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause. ³²“^aAnd Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, ^bbecause he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, but my father David did not know it: ^cAbner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^dAmasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³“^aSo shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed forever; but to David and his seed and his house and his throne, may there be peace from Yahweh forever.” ³⁴Then ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house ^bin the wilderness. ³⁵^aAnd the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed ^bZadok the priest ^cin the place of Abiathar.

Shimei Put to Death

³⁶Then the king sent and called for ^aShimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place. ³⁷“Now it will be on the day you go out and ^across over the ¹brook Kidron, that you will know for certain that you shall surely die; ^byour blood shall be on your own head.” ³⁸Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹But it happened at the end of three years, that two of the slaves of Shimei ran away ^ato Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.” ⁴⁰Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to search for his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. ⁴²So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘You will know for certain that on the day you go out and go anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word which I have heard is good.’ ⁴³“Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the command which I have commanded you?” ⁴⁴The king also said to Shimei, “^aYou know all the evil which ¹you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore ^bYahweh shall return your evil on your own head. ⁴⁵“But King Solomon shall be blessed, and ^athe throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.” ⁴⁶^aSo the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died. ^bThus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.