1 Kings 2
2
David’s Last Instructions
1Now when the time of David drew near to die, he charged his son Solomon, saying:
2“I—I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong and be a man.
3Keep the charge of Adonai your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His decrees, according to what is written in the Torah of Moses, so that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn
4so that Adonai may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying: ‘If your children watch their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
5“Moreover, you also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, whom he killed, shedding the blood of war in peacetime, and putting the blood of war on his waistband and on his sandals on his feet.
6So act according to your wisdom, and let his gray hair not go down to Sheol in shalom.
7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table—for they befriended me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8Also behold, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Adonai saying: ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’
9Now don’t let him go unpunished. For you are a wise man, and you will know how to deal with him, and bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood.”
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 33 years he reigned in Jerusalem.
12Then Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was established firmly. Solomon’s Throne Secured
13Later Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba, Solomon’s mother. “Is your coming in shalom?” she asked. “It is in shalom,” he said.
14Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” “Speak!” she said.
15Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel looked to me to be the king. However, the kingship has turned about and become my brother’s—for it was his from Adonai.
16So now one petition I ask of you; do not deny me.” “Speak!” she said to him.
17Then he said, “Please, speak to King Solomon—for he won’t turn you down—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”
18“Very well,” said Bath-sheba, “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king rose up to greet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a throne set up for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand.
20Then she said: “I ask one small petition of you; do not deny.” “Ask, my mother,” the king said to her, “for I will not turn you down.”
21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
22King Solomon answered and said to his mother: “So why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well—for he is my older brother—for him and for Abiathar the kohen, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”
23Then King Solomon swore by Adonai saying: “May God do so to me and even more, if Adonijah does not pay with his own life for this request!
24Now therefore, as Adonai lives who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day.”
25Then King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada. He struck him down and he died.
26Also to Abiathar the kohen the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you deserve death, but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of Adonai Elohim before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.”
27So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being kohen to Adonai—so fulfilling the word of Adonai that He spoke at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
28When the news came to Joab, he fled to the Tent of Adonai and grasped the horns of the altar—for Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom.
29It was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the Tent of Adonai, and behold, he was by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying: “Go, strike him down!”
30So Benaiah came to the Tent of Adonai and said to him: “Thus says the king: Come out!” But he replied: “No, for I will die here.” Benaiah reported back to the king saying: “Thus said Joab and thus he answered me.”
31Then the king commanded him: “Do as he has said—strike him down. Then bury him. So you will remove the blood that Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.
32Thus Adonai will return his blood on his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he—Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah—and killed them with the sword, without my father David’s knowledge.
33May the guilt of their blood return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his offspring forever, but to David and his seed and his house, and his throne, may there be shalom forever from Adonai.”
34Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck him down and killed him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
35Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and Zadok the kohen the king appointed in Abiathar’s place.
36Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and commanded him: “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and depart not from there anywhere else.
37For on the day you go out and cross over the Kidron valley, know for certain that you shall surely die—your blood shall be on your own head.”
38“The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39But it came about at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. So they told Shimei, saying: “Behold, your servants are in Gath.”
40So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey and went to Gath to Achish, to look for his servants; then Shimei went and brought his servants back from Gath.
41But it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and back.
42So the king sent someone and summoned Shimei. He said to him: “Didn’t I make you swear by Adonai and forewarned you, saying: ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere else, you shall surely die’? You even said to me: ‘The saying is good; I have heard it.’
43Why then haven’t you kept the oath of Adonai and the commandment that I charged you with?”
44The king added to Shimei: “You know all the evil, which your heart should acknowledge, that you did to my father David. Therefore Adonai will return your evil on your own head.
45But King Solomon shall be blessed and the throne of David established before Adonai forever.”
46So the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, so that he died. Thus the kingdom was secured in the hand of Solomon.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
1 Kings 2
2
David’s Instructions for Solomon
1The days of David came near for him to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2“I am about to go the way of all the world. Be strong and be courageous.#Literally “as a man” 3You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn, 4so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.’ ”
5“Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in a time of peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. 6You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. 7Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he cursed me severely#Literally “cursed me with a curse” when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, ‘I surely will not kill you with the sword.’ 9So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you are a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood.”
10Then David slept with his ancestors#Or “fathers” and was buried in the city of David. 11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
Adonijah’s Persistence
13Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, “Are you coming in peace?”#Literally “Is peace your coming?” He said, “Peace.” 14Then he said, “May I have a word with you?”#Literally “A word is for me to you” Then she said, “Go on.” 15He said, “You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother’s, for it was from Yahweh for him to have it. 16Now one request I am asking from you, and you must not refuse me.”#Literally “not turn my face” Then she said to him, “Go on.” 17He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife.” 18Then Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you.”
Solomon’s Responses to Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei
19Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. 20She said, “I have one small request I am asking from you. Do not refuse me.”#Literally “not turn my face” The king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”#Literally “not turn your face” 21Then she said, “Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” 22King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and ask for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn’t spoken this thing at the expense of his life. 24So then, as Yahweh lives,#Literally “the life of Yahweh” who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today.” 25King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.
26To Abiathar the priest, the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your field, for you deserve to die,#Literally “you are a man of death” but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured.” 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28When the message came to Joab (now Joab had supported#Literally “had turned after” Adonijah but had not supported#Literally “had not turned after” Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. 29It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent word to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and fall upon him.” 30So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, “Thus says the king: ‘Come out.’ ” And he said, “No, for I want to die here.” So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, “Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.” 31Then the king said to him, “Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father. 32Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; namely Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.” 34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. 35Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.
36Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out anywhere whatsoever#Literally “where and where” from there. 37It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi#A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die.#Literally “dying you will die” Your blood will be on your head.” 38Shimei said to the king, “The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Your slaves are here in Gath.” 40So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and you go anywhere whatsoever,#Literally “where and where” know for certain that you will surely die.’#Literally “dying you will die” And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I accept.’ 43Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?” 44Then the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head, 45but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever.” 46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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