1 Kings 2
2
David’s Dying Instructions to Solomon
1As the time approached for David to die,#Gn 47:29; Nm 27:13 he ordered his son Solomon, 2“As for me, I am going the way of all of the earth.#Jos 23:14 Be strong and be a man,#Jos 1:6–7,9; 1Sm 4:9 3and keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do#Dt 29:9; 1Ch 22:12–13 and wherever you turn, 4and so that the Lord will fulfill his promise that he made to me: ‘If your sons take care to walk faithfully before me with all their heart and all their soul,#Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37 you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’#2Sm 7:12–13; 1Kg 8:25; 9:5
5“You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me#2Sm 18:5,12,14 and what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s army, Abner son of Ner#2Sm 3:27 and Amasa son of Jether.#2Sm 20:10 He murdered them in a time of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet.#2:5 LXX, Old Lat read on my waistband and... my feet; v. 31 6Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace.
7“Show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table#2Sm 9:7; 19:28 because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom.#2Sm 19:31–39
8“Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim.#2Sm 16:5–13 But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord, ‘I will never kill you with the sword.’#2Sm 19:16–23 9So don’t let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”
10Then David rested with his ancestors#Ac 2:29; 13:36 and was buried in the city of David.#2Sm 5:7 11The length of time David reigned over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.#2Sm 5:4–5; 1Ch 29:27 12Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established.#1Kg 2:46; 1Ch 17:14
Adonijah’s Foolish Request
13Now Adonijah son of Haggith#1Kg 1:5,51–53 came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peacefully?”
“Peacefully,” he replied,#1Sm 16:4–5 14and then asked, “May I talk with you?” #2:14 Lit then said, “I have a word for you.”
“Go ahead,” she answered.
15“You know the kingship was mine,”#1Kg 1:11 he said. “All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother,#1Kg 1:38–46 for the Lord gave it to him.#1Ch 23:9–10; 28:5,7; Dn 2:21; 4:17; Jn 19:11; Rm 13:1 16So now I have just one request of you; don’t turn me down.”#2:16 Lit don’t make me turn my face
She said to him, “Go on.”
17He replied, “Please speak to King Solomon since he won’t turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite#1Kg 1:3–4,15 as a wife.”
18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king’s mother.#2Sm 15:16; 1Kg 15:13 So she sat down at his right hand.#Ps 110:1; Mt 20:21
20Then she said, “I have just one small request of you. Don’t turn me down.”
“Go ahead and ask, mother,” the king replied, “for I won’t turn you down.”
21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother,#1Kg 1:6; 1Ch 3:2,5 you might as well ask the kingship for him,#2Sm 16:20–22 for the priest Abiathar, and for Joab son of Zeruiah.”#2:22 LXX, Vg, Syr read kingship for him, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah#1Kg 1:7 23Then King Solomon took an oath by the Lord: “May God punish me and do so severely#Ru 1:17; 1Sm 3:17 if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his life. 24And now, as the Lord lives — the one who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as he promised#2Sm 7:11–13 — I swear Adonijah will be put to death today!” 25Then King Solomon dispatched Benaiah son of Jehoiada,#1Kg 1:8,26,38 who struck down Adonijah, and he died.
Abiathar’s Banishment
26The king said to the priest Abiathar,#1Kg 1:7,19 “Go to your fields in Anathoth.#Jos 21:18; Jr 1:1 Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord God in the presence of my father David#2Sm 15:24–25,29 and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”#1Sm 22:20–23; 2Sm 19:11 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from being the Lord’s priest, and it fulfilled the Lord’s prophecy he had spoken at Shiloh against Eli’s family.#1Sm 2:31–35
Joab’s Execution
28The news reached Joab. Since he had supported Adonijah#1Kg 1:7 but not Absalom,#2Sm 18:1–5 Joab fled to the Lord’s tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar.#Ex 21:12–14; 1Kg 1:50
29It was reported to King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the Lord’s tabernacle and is now beside the altar.”
Then Solomon sent#2:29 LXX adds Joab a message: “What is the matter with you, that you have fled to the altar?” And Joab replied, “Because I feared you, I have fled to the Lord.” And Solomon the king sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada#1Kg 1:8 and told him, “Go and strike him down!” #Ex 12:12,14; 2Sm 3:27; 18:14; 20:10
30So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, “This is what the king says: ‘Come out!’” #Ex 21:14
But Joab said, “No, for I will die here.”
So Benaiah took a message back to the king, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”
31The king said to him, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him in order to remove from me and from my father’s family the blood that Joab shed without just cause.#Nm 35:33; Dt 21:8–9 32The Lord will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner#2Sm 3:26–27 son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa#2Sm 20:8–10 son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 33The responsibility for their deaths will come back to Joab and to his descendants#2:33 Lit Their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever.”#2Sm 3:28–29
34Benaiah son of Jehoiada#2Kg 2:25 went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness.#2Sm 2:32 35Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army,#1Kg 4:4 and he appointed the priest Zadok in Abiathar’s place.
Shimei’s Banishment and Execution
36Then the king summoned Shimei#2Sm 16:5–13; 1Kg 2:8–9 and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but don’t leave there and go anywhere else. 37On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley,#Jn 18:1 know for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own head.”#Gn 2:17; 2Sm 1:16
38Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish#1Sm 27:2 son of Maacah, king of Gath.#Jos 13:3; 1Sm 6:16–17; 21:10 Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.” 40So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath.
41It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. 42So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Didn’t I make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you leave and go anywhere else, know for sure that you will certainly die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will obey.’ 43So why have you not kept the Lord’s oath and the command that I gave you?” 44The king also said, “You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David.#1Kg 2:8–9 Therefore, the Lord has brought back your evil on your head, 45but King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain established before the Lord forever.”#2Sm 7:13
46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hand.#1Kg 2:12; 2Ch 1:1
Currently Selected:
1 Kings 2: CSB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 2
2
1 Now the days of David had drawn near, so that he would die, and he instructed his son Solomon, saying:
2 "I am entering the way of all the earth. Be strengthened and be a good man.
3 And observe the care of the Lord your God, so that you walk in his ways, so that you care for his ceremonies, and his precepts, and judgments, and testimonies, just as it is written in the law of Moses. So may you understand everything that you do, in any direction that you may turn yourself.
4 So may the Lord confirm his words, which he has spoken about me, saying: 'If your sons will guard their ways, and if they will walk before me in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from you a man on the throne of Israel.'
5 Also, you know what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, has done to me, what he did to the two leaders of the army of Israel, to Abner, the son of Ner, and to Amasa, the son of Jether. He killed them, and so he shed the blood of war in peace time, and he set the bloodshed of battle on his belt, which was around his waist, and in his shoes, which were on his feet.
6 Therefore, act according to your wisdom. And you shall not allow his gray head to be led away to death in peace.
7 Then, too, repay grace to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. And you shall allow them to eat at your table. For they met me when I fled from the face of Absalom, your brother.
8 Also, you have with you Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse, when I went away to the camp. And he descended to meet me when I crossed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, 'I will not put you to death by the sword,'
9 yet do not choose to treat him as if he were innocent. Since you are a wise man, you will know what to do with him. And you shall lead away his grey hair to death with blood."
10 And so, David slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David.
11 Now the days during which David reigned over Israel are forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron, thirty-three in Jerusalem.
12 Then Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly.
13 And Adonijah, the son of Haggith, entered to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said to him, "Is your entrance peaceful?" He responded, "It is peaceful."
14 And he added, "My word is for you." She said to him, "Speak." And he said:
15 "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all of Israel had preferred me for themselves as king. But the kingdom was transferred, and has become my brother's. For it was appointed to him by the Lord.
16 Now therefore, I beg of you one petition. May you not confound my face." And she said to him, "Speak."
17 And he said: "I beg that you may speak to king Solomon, for he is not able to refuse anything to you, so that he may give Abishag the Shunammite to me as wife."
18 And Bathsheba said: "It is well. I will speak to the king on your behalf."
19 Then Bathsheba went to king Solomon, so that she might speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and he reverenced her, and he sat down upon his throne. And a throne was stationed for the mother of the king, and she sat at his right hand.
20 And she said to him: "I petition one small request from you. May you not confound my face." And the king said to her: "Ask, my mother. For it is not right that I turn away your face."
21 And she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, your brother, as wife."
22 And king Solomon responded, and he said to his mother: "Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not request the kingdom for him! For he is my older brother, and he has Abiathar, the priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah."
23 And so king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: "May God do these things to me, and may he add these other things! For Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life.
24 And now, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and placed me upon the throne of my father David, and who, just as he said, has made a house for me: Adonijah shall be put to death this day."
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who put him to death, and so he died.
26 Also, the king said to Abiathar, the priest: "Go into Anathoth, to your own land, for you are a man worthy of death. But I will not put you to death this day, since you carried the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and since you have endured hardship in all the things, for which my father labored."
27 Therefore, Solomon cast out Abiathar, so that he would not be the priest of the Lord, so that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke over the house of Eli at Shiloh.
28 And the news came to Joab, for Joab had turned aside after Adonijah, and he had not turned aside after Solomon. And so, Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and he took hold of the horn of the altar.
29 And it was reported to king Solomon that Joab had fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and that he was beside the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, put him to death."
30 And Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the Lord, and he said to him: "The king says this: 'Come out.' " But he said: "I will not come out. Instead, I will die here." Benaiah sent word back to the king, saying, "Joab said this, and he responded to me in this way."
31 And the king said to him, "Do just as he has said. And put him to death, and bury him. And so shall you take away the innocent blood, which was shed by Joab, from me and from my father's house.
32 And the Lord shall repay his blood upon his own head. For he killed two men, just and better than himself, and he killed them with the sword, while my father, David, did not know it: Abner, the son of Ner, leader of the military of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, leader of the army of Judah.
33 And their blood shall be turned back upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his offspring forever. But as for David, and his offspring and house, and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord, even unto eternity."
34 And so Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and, attacking him, put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the desert.
35 And the king appointed Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, in his place over the army. And he appointed Zadok, the priest, in place of Abiathar.
36 Also, the king sent for and summoned Shimei, and he said to him: "Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem, and live there. And do not depart from that place to here or to there.
37 For on whatever day you will have departed and crossed the torrent Kidron, know that you shall be put to death. Your blood will be upon your own head."
38 And Shimei said to the king: "The word is good. Just as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." And so Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.
39 But it happened that, after three years, the servants of Shimei fled to Achish, the son of Maacah, the king of Gath. And it was reported to Shimei that his servants had gone away to Gath.
40 And Shimei rose up, and he saddled his donkey. And went away to Achish in Gath, in order to seek his servants. And he led them away from Gath.
41 And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone away from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.
42 And sending, he summoned him, and he said to him: "Did I not testify to you by the Lord, and warn you in advance, 'On whatever day, having departed, you go forth to here or to there, know that you shall die?' And you responded to me, 'The word that I have heard is good.'
43 Then why have you not kept the oath to the Lord, and the commandment which I instructed to you?"
44 And the king said to Shimei: "You know all the evil, of which your heart is conscious, which you did to David, my father. The Lord has repaid your wickedness upon your own head."
45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord, even forever.
46 And so the king commanded Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. And going out, he struck him down, and he died.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in