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
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1 Kings 2: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 2
2
David's Charge to Solomon
1Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man; 3and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself: 4that the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
5 #
2 Sam 3.27;
2 Sam 20.10. Moreover thou knowest also what Jo´ab the son of Zeru-i´ah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Ama´sa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 6Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. 7#2 Sam 17.27-29. But show kindness unto the sons of Barzil´lai the Gil´e-adite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Ab´salom thy brother. 8#2 Sam 16.5-13; 2 Sam 19.16-23. And, behold, thou hast with thee Shim´e-i the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahu´rim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahana´im: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. 9Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.
The Death of David
(1 Chronicles 29.26-30)
10So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 11#2 Sam 5.4,5; 1 Chr 3.4. And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. 12#1 Chr 29.23. Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.
Solomon Establishes His Kingdom
13And Adoni´jah the son of Haggith came to Bath–she´ba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. 14He said moreover, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And she said, Say on. 15And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it was his from the Lord. 16And now I ask one petition of thee, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on. 17And he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Ab´ishag the Shu´nammite to wife. 18And Bath–she´ba said, Well; I will speak for thee unto the king.
19Bath–she´ba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adoni´jah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not say thee nay. 21And she said, Let Ab´ishag the Shu´nammite be given to Adoni´jah thy brother to wife. 22And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Ab´ishag the Shu´nammite for Adoni´jah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abi´athar the priest, and for Jo´ab the son of Zeru-i´ah. 23Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adoni´jah have not spoken this word against his own life. 24Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adoni´jah shall be put to death this day. 25And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada; and he fell upon him that he died.
26 #
2 Sam 15.24;
1 Sam 22.20-23. And unto Abi´athar the priest said the king, Get thee to An´athoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. 27#1 Sam 2.27-36. So Solomon thrust out Abi´athar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28Then tidings came to Jo´ab: for Jo´ab had turned after Adoni´jah, though he turned not after Ab´salom. And Jo´ab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29And it was told king Solomon that Jo´ab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada, saying, Go, fall upon him. 30And Benai´ah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benai´ah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Jo´ab, and thus he answered me. 31And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Jo´ab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. 32And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Ama´sa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 33Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Jo´ab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the Lord. 34So Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35And the king put Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abi´athar.
36And the king sent and called for Shim´e-i, and said unto him, Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. 37For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head. 38And Shim´e-i said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shim´e-i dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shim´e-i ran away unto Achish son of Ma´achah king of Gath. And they told Shim´e-i, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. 40And Shim´e-i arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shim´e-i went, and brought his servants from Gath. 41And it was told Solomon that Shim´e-i had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. 42And the king sent and called for Shim´e-i, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good. 43Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? 44The king said moreover to Shim´e-i, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father; therefore the Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head: 45and king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever. 46So the king commanded Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died.
And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.