The Shared Word Translation · Study & Discuss
1 Kings 2
As David’s days drew near for him to die, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
“I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may act wisely in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children keep their way, walking before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their life, you will not lack a man upon the throne of Israel.’
“Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether: he killed them, shedding the blood of war in peace, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet. Act, then, according to your wisdom; do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they came near to me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
“And look, with you is Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim. 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 the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ Now do not hold him innocent, for you are a wise man. You will know what you must do to him, and you will bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
Then David lay down with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of David. The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace.” Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Speak.”
He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel had set their faces toward me to make me king. But the kingdom turned and became my brother’s, for it came to him from the LORD. Now I ask one request of you; do not turn away from me.” She said to him, “Speak.” He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not turn away from you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
Bathsheba said, “Very well. I will speak to the king for you.”
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne, and a throne was set for the king’s mother; and she sat at his right hand. She said, “I ask one small request of you; do not turn away from me.” The king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away from you.” She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.”
King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him too! For he is my older brother—and for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”
Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. Now, as the LORD lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he spoke, Adonijah shall be put to death today.” So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.
To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man deserving death. But I will not put you to death today, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all that my father suffered.”
So Solomon drove Abiathar out from being priest to the LORD, fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
The report came to Joab, for Joab had followed Adonijah, though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar. It was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD, and look, he is beside the altar.” So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”
Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “Thus says the king: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No. I will die here.” So Benaiah brought the king word, saying, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”
The king said to him, “Do as he has said: strike him down and bury him. Remove from me and from my father’s house the blood shed without cause by Joab. May the LORD return his blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, killing them with the sword while my father David did not know it: Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. May their blood return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, may there be peace from the LORD forever.”
Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck him down, and put him to death; and he was buried at his house in the wilderness. The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s place, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.
Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there. Do not go out from there anywhere. For on the day you go out and cross the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
Shimei said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
But after 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.” Then Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants back from Gath.
Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. So the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and go anywhere, know for certain that you will die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I commanded you?”
The king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil that your heart knows, which you did to David my father. The LORD will return your evil upon your own head. But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the LORD forever.”
Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died.
And the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hand.