1 Kings 2
2
David’s Advice to Solomon
(1 Chronicles 29:26–30)
1When David was about to die, he instructed his son Solomon, 2“I’m about to leave this world. Be strong and mature. 3Fulfill your duty to the Lord your God. Obey his directions, laws, commands, rules, and written instructions as they are recorded in Moses’ Teachings. Then you’ll succeed in everything you do wherever you may go. 4⌞You’ll succeed⌟ because the Lord will keep the promise he made to me: ‘If your descendants are faithful to me with all their hearts and lives, you will never fail to have an heir on the throne of Israel.’
5“You know what Joab (Zeruiah’s son) did to me and to the two commanders of Israel’s army—Abner, son of Ner, and Amasa, son of Jether. Joab killed them. When there was peace, he shed blood as if it were wartime. With their blood he stained the belt around his waist and the shoes on his feet. 6Use your wisdom. Don’t let that gray-haired, old man go to his grave peacefully.
7“Be kind to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead. Let them eat at your table. They helped me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.
8“Shimei, son of Gera from Bahurim in Benjamin, is still with you. He cursed me repeatedly when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came to meet me at the Jordan River, I took an oath by the Lord and said, ‘As long as I’m king, I won’t have you killed.’ 9Now, don’t let him go unpunished. You are wise and know what to do to him: Put that gray-haired, old man into his grave by slaughtering him.”
10David lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. 11He ruled as king of Israel for 40 years. He ruled for 7 years in Hebron and for 33 years in Jerusalem.
Solomon Establishes His Authority
12Solomon sat on his father David’s throne, and his power was firmly established.
13Then Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. “Is this a friendly visit?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered. 14Then he added, “I have a matter ⌞to discuss⌟ with you.”
“What is it?” she asked.
15He said, “You know the kingship was mine. All Israel expected me to be their king. But the kingship has been turned over to my brother because the Lord gave it to him. 16Now I want to ask you for one thing. Don’t refuse me.”
“What is it?” she asked.
17He said, “Please ask King Solomon to give me Abishag from Shunem as my wife. He will not refuse you.”
18“Very well,” Bathsheba answered. “I will talk to the king for you.”
19Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk to him on Adonijah’s behalf. The king got up to meet her and bowed down in front of her. Then he sat on his throne. He had a throne brought for his mother, and she sat at his right side.
20“I’m asking you for one little thing,” she said. “Don’t refuse me.”
“Ask, Mother,” the king told her. “I won’t refuse you.”
21She replied, “Let Abishag from Shunem be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”
22King Solomon then said, “Why do you ask that Abishag from Shunem be given to Adonijah? That would be the same as giving him the kingship. After all, he is my older brother. The priest Abiathar and Joab (Zeruiah’s son) are supporting him.”
23King Solomon took an oath by the Lord and said, “May God strike me dead if Adonijah doesn’t pay with his life for this request! 24The Lord set me on my father David’s throne and gave me a dynasty as he promised. So I solemnly swear, as the Lord who has established me lives, that Adonijah will be put to death today.” 25King Solomon gave this task to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. Benaiah attacked and killed Adonijah.
26The king told the priest Abiathar, “Go to your land in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won’t kill you at this time because you carried the ark of the Almighty Lord ahead of my father David and because you shared all my father’s sufferings.” 27So Solomon removed Abiathar as the Lord’s priest and fulfilled the Lord’s word spoken at Shiloh about Eli’s family.
28The news reached Joab. (He had supported Adonijah, although he hadn’t supported Absalom.) So Joab fled to the Lord’s tent and clung to the horns of the altar. 29After King Solomon heard that Joab had fled to the altar in the tent of the Lord, Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, to kill Joab.
30When Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord, he told Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out.’ ”
“No,” Joab answered, “I’ll die here.”
So Benaiah reported to the king what Joab had said and how he had answered.
31The king answered, “Do as he said. Kill him, and bury him. You can remove the innocent blood—the blood which Joab shed—from me and my father’s family. 32The Lord will repay him for the slaughter he caused. Joab killed two honorable men who were better than he was. He used his sword to kill Abner (who was the son of Ner and the commander of Israel’s army) and Amasa (who was the son of Jether and the commander of Judah’s army). Joab did this without my father’s knowledge. 33The responsibility for their blood will fall on Joab and his descendants forever. But may David, his descendants, family, and throne always receive peace from the Lord.”
34Then Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went and attacked Joab, killed him, and buried him at his home in the desert. 35The king then appointed Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, to replace Joab as commander of the army. King Solomon also replaced Abiathar with the priest Zadok.
36The king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem, and stay there. Don’t leave ⌞the city⌟ to go anywhere else. 37But the day you leave and cross the brook in the Kidron Valley, you can be certain that you will die. You will be responsible for your own death.”
38“Very well,” Shimei answered. “I’ll do just what Your Majesty said.”
So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. 39But after three years, two of Shimei’s slaves fled to Gath’s King Achish, son of Maacah. Shimei was told that his slaves were in Gath, 40so he saddled his donkey and went to Achish in Gath to search for his slaves. Shimei went to Gath and got his slaves.
41After Solomon heard that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and back, 42he summoned Shimei. Solomon asked him, “Didn’t I make you take an oath by the Lord? Didn’t I warn you that if you left ⌞the city⌟ to go anywhere, you could be certain that you would die? Didn’t you say to me, ‘Very well. I’ll do just what you said’? 43Why didn’t you keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you? 44Shimei, you know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. The Lord is going to pay you back for the evil you have done. 45But King Solomon is blessed, and David’s dynasty will always be firmly established by the Lord.”
46Then the king gave orders to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He went to attack and kill Shimei.
Solomon’s power as king was now firmly established.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 2
2
King David Dies
1The time came for David to die, so he gave these commands to Solomon, 2“I am about to die, like all men must. But you are growing stronger and becoming a man. 3Now, carefully obey all the commands of the Lord your God. Carefully obey all his laws, commands, decisions, and agreements. Obey everything that is written in the Law of Moses. If you do this, you will be successful at whatever you do and wherever you go. 4And if you obey the Lord, he will keep his promise about me. He said, ‘If your sons carefully live the way I tell them, sincerely, with all their heart, the king of Israel will always be a man from your family.’”
5David also said, “You remember what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me. He killed two of the commanders of Israel’s army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. Remember, it was during a time of peace when he spilled the blood that splattered onto his sword belt and army boots. I should have punished him then. 6Use your wisdom, but don’t let him die peacefully of old age.
7“Also, be kind to the children of Barzillai from Gilead. Be friends with them, and let them eat at your table, because they helped me when I ran away from your brother Absalom.
8“And remember, Shimei son of Gera is still around. He is the Benjamite from Bahurim who cursed me when I ran away to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I made a promise to him before the Lord that I would not kill him. 9Now, don’t leave him unpunished. You are a wise man. You will know what you must do, but don’t let him die peacefully of old age.”
10Then David died and was buried in the City of David. 11David ruled Israel 40 years. He ruled seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.
Solomon and Adonijah
12Now Solomon was king. He sat on the throne of his father David and was in complete control of his kingdom.
13One day Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba. She asked him, “Do you come in peace?”
Adonijah answered, “Yes, this is a peaceful visit. 14I have something to ask you.”
Bathsheba said, “Then speak.”
15Adonijah said, “You know that at one time the kingdom was mine. All the people of Israel wanted me to be their king. But things have changed, and now my brother is the king. The Lord chose him to be king. 16But now I have one thing to ask you. Please don’t refuse me.”
Bathsheba answered, “What do you want?”
17Adonijah said, “I know that King Solomon will do whatever you ask. So please ask him to let me marry Abishag, the woman from Shunem.”
18Then Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk with him. When the king saw her, he stood up, bowed before her, and then sat back down. He told some servants to bring another throne for his mother, and she sat down at his right side.
20Bathsheba said to him, “I have one small thing to ask you. Please don’t refuse me.”
The king answered, “Ask whatever you want, mother. I will not refuse you.”
21So Bathsheba said, “Let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the woman from Shunem.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you asking me to give Abishag to Adonijah? Why don’t you just ask me to give him the whole kingdom! After all, he is my older brother, and both Abiathar the priest and Joab support him!”
23Then Solomon said, “By the Lord, I swear I’ll make Adonijah pay for this with his life! 24The Lord made me the king of Israel. He gave me the throne of my father David. The Lord kept his promise and gave the kingdom to me and my family. Now, as surely as the Lord lives, I swear Adonijah will die today!”
25King Solomon gave the command to Benaiah, and Benaiah went out and killed Adonijah.
26Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “I should kill you, but I will let you go back to your home in Anathoth. I will not kill you now because you helped carry the Holy Box of the Lord GOD while marching with my father David. And I know that you shared in the hard times with my father.” 27So Solomon told Abiathar that he could not continue to serve as a priest of the Lord. This happened as the Lord said it would when he told Eli the priest what would happen to him and his family.#2:27 This … family See 1 Sam. 2:27-36.
28Joab had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom. But when Joab heard what happened to Abiathar, he was frightened and ran to the tent of the Lord to hold onto the horns of the altar. 29Someone told King Solomon that Joab was at the altar in the Lord’s Tent. So Solomon ordered Benaiah to go and kill him.
30Benaiah went into the Lord’s Tent and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’”
But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.”
Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said. 31The king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says! Kill him there and take him out to bury him. Then my family and I will be free of Joab’s guilt from killing innocent people. 32Joab killed two men who were much better than he was. He killed Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah. He did this without my father’s knowledge. But now the Lord will punish Joab for the men he killed. 33He and his family will always be guilty for their deaths. But the Lord will bring peace to David, his descendants, his family of kings, and his kingdom 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 the 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 and said to him, “Build yourself a house here in Jerusalem to live in and don’t leave the city. 37If you leave the city and go any further than Kidron Brook, you will be killed, and it will be your own fault.”
38Shimei answered, “Yes, my king. I will obey you.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. 39But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away. They went to King Achish of Gath, who was the son of Maacah. Shimei heard that his slaves were in Gath, 40so he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish at Gath to find them. He found them there and brought them back home.
41But someone told Solomon that Shimei had left Jerusalem and gone to Gath and back. 42So Solomon sent for him and said, “I made you promise in the Lord’s name not to leave Jerusalem. And I warned you that if you went anywhere, you would die. And you agreed to what I said. You said that you would obey me. 43So why didn’t you obey me? Why did you break your promise to the Lord? 44You know all the bad things you did to my father David. Now the Lord will punish you for it. 45But the Lord will bless me and keep David’s throne before him forever.”
46Then the king ordered Benaiah to kill Shimei, and he did. So Solomon had full control of his kingdom.
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