1 Kings 2
Good News Translation
David's Last Instructions to Solomon
2 When David was about to die, he called his son Solomon and gave him his last instructions: 2 “My time to die has come. Be confident and determined, 3 and do what the Lord your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses, so that wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. 4 If you obey him, the Lord will keep the promise he made when he told me that my descendants would rule Israel as long as they were careful to obey his commands faithfully with all their heart and soul.
5 (A)“There is something else. You remember what Joab did to me by killing the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. You remember how he murdered them in time of peace as revenge for deaths they had caused in time of war. He killed innocent men,[a] and now I bear the responsibility for what he did, and I suffer[b] the consequences. 6 You know what to do; you must not let him die a natural death.
7 (B)“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead and take care of them, because they were kind to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.
8 (C)“There is also Shimei son of Gera, from the town of Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me bitterly the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he met me at the Jordan River, I gave him my solemn promise in the name of the Lord that I would not have him killed. 9 But you must not let him go unpunished. You know what to do, and you must see to it that he is put to death.”
The Death of David
10 David died and was buried in David's City. 11 (D)He had been king of Israel for forty years, ruling seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 (E)Solomon succeeded his father David as king, and his royal power was firmly established.
The Death of Adonijah
13 Then Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, went to Bathsheba, who was Solomon's mother. “Is this a friendly visit?” she asked.
“It is,” he answered, 14 and then he added, “I have something to ask of you.”
“What is it?” she asked.
15 He answered, “You know that I should have become king and that everyone in Israel expected it. But it happened differently, and my brother became king because it was the Lord's will. 16 And now I have one request to make; please do not refuse me.”
“What is it?” Bathsheba asked.
17 (F)He answered, “Please ask King Solomon—I know he won't refuse you—to let me have Abishag, the young woman from Shunem, as my wife.”
18 “Very well,” she answered. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19 So Bathsheba went to the king to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king stood up to greet his mother and bowed to her. Then he sat on his throne and had another one brought in on which she sat at his right. 20 She said, “I have a small favor to ask of you; please do not refuse me.”
“What is it, mother?” he asked. “I will not refuse you.”
21 She answered, “Let your brother Adonijah have Abishag as his wife.”
22 “Why do you ask me to give Abishag to him?” the king asked. “You might as well ask me to give him the throne too. After all, he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab are on his side!”[c] 23 Then Solomon made a solemn promise in the Lord's name, “May God strike me dead if I don't make Adonijah pay with his life for asking this! 24 The Lord has firmly established me on the throne of my father David; he has kept his promise and given the kingdom to me and my descendants. I swear by the living Lord that Adonijah will die this very day!”
25 So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Adonijah.
Abiathar's Banishment and Joab's Death
26 (G)Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to your country home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not have you put to death now, for you were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box while you were with my father David, and you shared in all his troubles.” 27 (H)Then Solomon dismissed Abiathar from serving as a priest of the Lord, and so made come true what the Lord had said in Shiloh about the priest Eli and his descendants.
28 Joab heard what had happened. (He had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom.) So he fled to the Tent of the Lord's presence and took hold of the corners of the altar.[d] 29 When the news reached King Solomon that Joab had fled to the Tent and was by the altar, Solomon sent a messenger to Joab to ask him why he had fled to the altar. Joab answered that he had fled to the Lord because he was afraid of Solomon. So King Solomon sent Benaiah[e] to kill Joab. 30 He went to the Tent of the Lord's presence and said to Joab, “The king orders you to come out.”
“No,” Joab answered. “I will die here.”
Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.
31 “Do what Joab says,” Solomon answered. “Kill him and bury him. Then neither I nor any other of David's descendants will any longer be held responsible for what Joab did when he killed innocent men. 32 The Lord will punish Joab for those murders, which he committed[f] without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah. 33 The punishment for their murders will fall on Joab and on his descendants forever. But the Lord will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne.”
34 So Benaiah went to the Tent of the Lord's presence and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the open country. 35 The king made Benaiah commander of the army in Joab's place and put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place.
The Death of Shimei
36 Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in it and don't leave the city. 37 If you ever leave and go beyond Kidron Brook, you will certainly die—and you yourself will be to blame.”
38 “Very well, Your Majesty,” Shimei answered. “I will do what you say.” So he lived in Jerusalem a long time.
39 Three years later, however, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to the king of Gath, Achish son of Maacah. When Shimei heard that they were in Gath, 40 he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home. 41 When Solomon heard what Shimei had done, 42 he 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 ever did, you would certainly die. Did you not agree to it and say that you would obey me? 43 Why, then, have you broken your promise and disobeyed my command? 44 You know very well all the wrong that you did to my father David. The Lord will punish you for it. 45 But he will bless me, and he will make David's kingdom secure forever.”
46 Then the king gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Shimei. Solomon was now in complete control.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 2:5 Some ancient translations innocent men; Hebrew men in battle.
- 1 Kings 2:5 Some ancient translations I bear … and I suffer; Hebrew he bears … and he suffers.
- 1 Kings 2:22 Some ancient translations and Abiathar the priest … on his side; Hebrew unclear.
- 1 Kings 2:28 See 1.50.
- 1 Kings 2:29 One ancient translation Solomon sent a messenger … sent Benaiah; Hebrew Solomon sent Benaiah.
- 1 Kings 2:32 will punish … committed; or will kill Joab, because he committed those murders.
1 Kings 2
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
2 When David’s time to die was near, he charged Solomon his son, saying,
2 I go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man;
3 Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His precepts, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may do wisely and prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
4 That the Lord may fulfill His promise to me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and mind and with all their soul, there shall not fail you [to have] a man on the throne of Israel.
5 You know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, avenging in time of peace blood shed in war, and putting innocent blood of war on the girdle on his loins and on the sandals of his feet.
6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, but let not his hoary head go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in peace.
7 But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table; for with such kindness they met me when I fled because of Absalom your brother.(A)
8 And you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan [on my return], and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.
9 So do not hold him guiltless; for you are a wise man and know what you should do to him. His hoary head bring down to the grave with blood.
10 So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
11 David reigned over Israel forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
12 Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
13 Adonijah, the son of [David and] Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. She said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.
14 He said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Say on.
15 He said, You know that the kingdom belonged to me [as the eldest living son], and all Israel looked to me to reign. However, the kingdom has passed from me to my brother; for it was his from the Lord.
16 Now I make one request of you; do not deny me. And she said, Say on.
17 He said, I pray you, ask King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunammite to be my wife.(B)
18 And Bathsheba said, Very well; I will speak for you to the king.
19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set at his right hand for her, the king’s mother.
20 Then she said, I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me. The king said to her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not refuse you.
21 She said, Give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah your brother to be his wife.
22 King Solomon answered his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my elder brother—[ask it] even for him and for [his supporters] Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah.
23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not requested this against his own life.
24 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, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.
25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who attacked [Adonijah] and he died.
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Get to Anathoth to your own estate; for you deserve death, but I will not put you to death now, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before my father David and were afflicted in all my father endured.
27 So Solomon expelled Abiathar [descendant of Eli] from being priest to the Lord, fulfilling the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.(C)
28 When the news came to Joab, for Joab had followed Adonijah though he had not followed Absalom, [he] fled to the tent (tabernacle) of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar [before it].
29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was at the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, strike him down.
30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and told Joab, The king commands, Come forth. But Joab said, No, I will die here. Then Benaiah brought the king word again, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.
31 The king said to him, Do as he has said. Strike him down and bury him, that you may take away from [me and from] my father’s house the innocent blood which Joab shed.
32 The Lord shall return his bloody deeds upon his own head, for he fell upon two men more [uncompromisingly] righteous and honorable than he and slew them with the sword, without my father knowing of it: Abner son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
33 So shall their blood return upon the head of Joab and of his descendants forever. But upon David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord forever.
34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed Joab, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.
35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army and put Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.
36 The king sent for Shimei and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not leave there.
37 For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know with certainty that you shall die; your blood shall be upon your own head.
38 And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 But after three years, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And Shimei was told, Behold, your [runaway] servants are in Gath.
40 So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to King Achish to seek his servants, and brought them from Gath.
41 It was told Solomon that Shimei went from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.
42 And the king sent for Shimei and said to him, Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, Know with certainty, on the day you go out and walk abroad anywhere, you shall surely die? And you said to me, I have heard your word. It is accepted.
43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the command with which I have charged you?
44 The king also said to Shimei, You are aware in your own heart of all the evil you did to my father David; so the Lord will return your evil upon your own head.
45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.
46 So the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck down Shimei, and he died. And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
