1 Kings 2
2
The Death of David
1It was almost time for David to die. So he talked to Solomon and gave him his last commands. 2David said, “My time to die is near. Be a good and strong leader. 3Obey everything that the Lord commands. Follow the commands he has given us. Obey all his laws, and do what he told us. Obey what is written in the teachings of Moses. If you do these things, you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. 4And if you obey the Lord, he will keep the promise he made to me. He promised: ‘Your descendants must live as I tell them. They must have complete faith in me. If they do this, then a man from your family will always be king over the people of Israel.’
5“Also, you remember what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me. He killed the two commanders of Israel’s armies. He killed Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them as if he and they were at war. But this was in a time of peace. He killed innocent men. And their blood got on his belt and sandals. 6You should punish him in the way you think is wisest. (But do not let him die peacefully of old age.)
7“Be kind to the children of Barzillai of Gilead. Allow them to eat at your table. They helped me when I ran away from your brother Absalom.
8“And remember, Shimei son of Gera is here with you. He is from the people of Benjamin in Bahurim. Remember he cursed me the day I went to Mahanaim. Then he came down to meet me at the Jordan River. I promised him before the Lord, ‘Shimei, I will not kill you.’ 9But you should not leave him unpunished. You are a wise man. You will know what to do to him. But you must be sure he is killed.”
10Then David died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem. 11He had ruled over Israel 40 years. Seven years were in Hebron, and 33 years were in Jerusalem.
Solomon Takes Control as King
12Now Solomon became king after David, his father. And he was in control of his kingdom.
13At this time Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked, “Do you come in peace?”
Adonijah answered, “Yes. This is a peaceful visit. 14I have something to say to you.”
“You may speak,” she said.
15Adonijah said, “You remember that at one time the kingdom was mine. All the people of Israel thought I was their king. But things changed. Now my brother is the king because the Lord chose him. 16So now I have one thing to ask you. Please do not refuse me.”
Bathsheba answered, “What do you want?”
17Adonijah said, “I know King Solomon will do anything you ask him. So please ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite woman to be my wife.”
18“Very well,” she answered. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk to him for Adonijah. When Solomon saw her, he stood up to meet her. Then he bowed down to her and sat on the throne. He told some servants to bring another throne for his mother. Then she sat down at his right side.
20Bathsheba said to him, “I have one small thing to ask you. Please do not refuse me.”
The king answered, “Ask, mother. I will not refuse you.”
21So she said, “Allow Abishag the Shunammite woman to marry your brother Adonijah.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask me to give him Abishag? Why don’t you ask for him to become the king also since he is my older brother? Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah will support him!”
23Then King Solomon made a promise in the name of the Lord. He said, “I promise Adonijah will pay for asking me this! May God punish me terribly if it doesn’t cost Adonijah his life! 24The Lord has given me the throne that belonged to my father David. The Lord has kept his promise and given the kingdom to me and my people. As surely as the Lord lives, Adonijah will die today!” 25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada. And he went out and killed Adonijah.
26Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “I should kill you. But I will allow you to go back to your home in Anathoth. I will not kill you now because you helped to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord God while marching with my father David. And I know you shared in all of the hard times with my father.” 27So Solomon removed Abiathar from being a priest to the Lord. This happened as the Lord had said it would. He had said this about the priest Eli and his family in Shiloh.
28When Joab heard about this, he was afraid. He had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom. So Joab ran to the Tent of the Lord and took hold of the corners of the altar.# If a person were innocent of a crime, he could run into the Holy Place. If he held on to the corners of the altar there, he would not be punished. The corners looked like horns. 29Someone told King Solomon that Joab had run to the Tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. So Solomon ordered Benaiah to go and kill him.
30Benaiah went into the Tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’”
But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.”
So Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said. 31Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says! Kill him there and bury him. Then my family and I will be free of the guilt of Joab. Joab is guilty of killing innocent people. 32He killed two men who were much better than he was. They were Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. Abner was the commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa was the commander of Judah’s army. My father David did not know that he killed them. So the Lord will pay him back for those men he killed. 33He and his family will be forever guilty for their deaths. But there will be peace from God for David, his descendants, his family and his rule forever.”
34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada killed Joab. And he was buried near his home in the desert. 35Solomon then made Benaiah son of Jehoiada commander of the army in Joab’s place. Solomon also made Zadok the new high priest in Abiathar’s place.
36Next the king sent for Shimei. The king said to him, “Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in the house, and don’t leave the city. 37If you leave and go past Kidron Valley, someone will kill you. And it will be your own fault.”
38So Shimei answered the king, “What you have said is good. I will obey you, my master and king.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves ran away. They went to Achish king of Gath. He was the son of Maacah. Shimei heard that his slaves were in Gath. 40So he put his saddle on his donkey and left. He went to Achish at Gath to find his slaves. When he found them there, he brought them back to his home.
41Someone told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. 42So Solomon sent for Shimei. Solomon said, “I made you promise in the name of the Lord not to leave Jerusalem. I warned you that if you went anywhere else you would die. And you agreed to what I said. You said you would obey me. 43Why did you break your promise to the Lord? Why did you not obey my command? 44You know the many wrong things you did against my father David. Now the Lord will punish you for those wrongs. 45But the Lord will bless me. He will make the rule of David safe before the Lord forever.”
46Then the king ordered Benaiah to kill Shimei, and he did. Now Solomon was in full control of his kingdom.
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1 Kings 2: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
1 Kings 2
2
David’s Charge to Solomon
1As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2“I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. 3Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in #Or faithfulnesstruth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
5“Now you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt about his waist, and on his sandals on his feet. 6So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. 7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9Now therefore, do not let him go unpunished, for 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.”
Death of David
10Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. 11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years he reigned in Hebron and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. 12And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
13Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do 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 the kingdom was mine and that all Israel expected me to be king; however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord. 16Now I am making one request of you; do not #Lit turn away my facerefuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 17Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” 18Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”
Adonijah Executed
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 had a throne set for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. 20Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” 21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” 22King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom—for he is my older brother—even for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” 23Then 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. 24Now therefore, as the Lord 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, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” 25So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.
26Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth to your own field, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
Joab Executed
28Now the news came to Joab, for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall upon him.” 30So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord 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.” 31The king said to him, “Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause. 32The Lord will return his blood on his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David and his descendants and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness. 35The king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
Shimei Executed
36Now the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place. 37For on the day you go out and cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; your 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 came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41It was told 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 the Lord and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘You will know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word which I have heard is good.’ 43Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I have laid on you?” 44The king also said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore the Lord shall return your evil on your own head. 45But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.” 46So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died.
Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.
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