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1 Kings 2
New American Standard Bible

David’s Command to Solomon

2 As David’s [a](A)time to die drew near, he commanded his son Solomon, saying, 2 “(B)I am going the way of all the earth. So (C)be strong, and [b]prove yourself a man. 3 Do your duty to the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to [c]keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, (D)according to what is written in the Law of Moses, so that (E)you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 so that (F)the Lord may fulfill His [d]promise which He spoke regarding me, saying, ‘(G)If your sons are careful about their way, (H)to walk before Me in [e]truth with all their heart and all their soul, [f](I)you shall not be deprived of a man to occupy the throne of Israel.’

5 “Now you yourself also know what Joab the (J)son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to (K)Abner the son of Ner and to (L)Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also [g]shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt that was on his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. 6 (M)So act as your wisdom dictates, and do not let his gray hair go down to [h]Sheol in peace. 7 However, (N)show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and (O)let them be among those who eat at your table; (P)for [i]they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8 And behold, you have with you (Q)Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a painful curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when (R)he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9 But now do not leave him unpunished, (S)for you are a wise man; and you will know what to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to [j]Sheol with blood.”

Death of David

10 Then (T)David [k]lay down with his fathers, and he was buried in (U)the city of David. 11 Now (V)the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned for (W)seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years. 12 Then (X)Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

13 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, “(Y)Do you come peacefully?” And he said, “Peacefully.” 14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” 15 So he said, “You yourself know that (Z)the kingdom was mine and (AA)that all Israel [l]intended for me to be king; (AB)however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother’s, (AC)for it was his from the Lord. 16 So now I am making one request of you; do not [m]refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 17 Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king—for he will not [n]refuse you—that he may give me (AD)Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” 18 And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

Adonijah Executed

19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king stood to meet her, bowed to her, and sat on his throne; then he (AE)had a throne set up for the king’s mother, and (AF)she sat on his right. 20 Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; (AG)do not [o]refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not [p]refuse you.” 21 So she said, “(AH)Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” 22 But King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? (AI)Request for him the kingdom as well—(AJ)since he is my older brother—for him, for (AK)Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more so, if Adonijah has (AL)not spoken this word against his own [q]life! 24 Now then, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and (AM)has made me a house just as He [r]promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!” 25 Then King Solomon (AN)sent the order by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he [s]struck him so that he died.

26 Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “(AO)Go to Anathoth to your own field, (AP)for you [t]deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this [u]time, because (AQ)you carried the ark of the Lord [v]God before my father David, and because (AR)you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, to fulfill (AS)the word of the Lord, which He had spoken regarding the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Executed

28 Now the news came to Joab (AT)because Joab had followed Adonijah, (AU)though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and (AV)took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and [w]was beside the altar. Then Solomon (AW)sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “(AX)Go, [x]execute him.” 30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “This is what the king has said: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me.” 31 And the king said to him, “(AY)Do just as he has spoken, and [y]execute him and bury him, (AZ)so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without [z]justification. 32 (BA)The Lord will return his blood on his own head, (BB)because he [aa]struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: (BC)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and (BD)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 (BE)So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his [ab]descendants forever; but for David and his [ac]descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34 Then (BF)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and [ad]struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house (BG)in the wilderness. 35 And (BH)the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed (BI)Zadok the priest (BJ)in place of Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent men and summoned (BK)Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place. 37 For on the day you leave and (BL)cross the [ae]brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; (BM)your blood will be [af]on your own head.” 38 Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away (BN)to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And others told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40 Then Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42 So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I [ag]imposed on you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “(BO)You yourself know all the evil that [ah]you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore (BP)the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and (BQ)the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.” 46 (BR)So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and [ai]struck him so that he died.

(BS)And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 2:1 Lit days
  2. 1 Kings 2:2 Lit become a man
  3. 1 Kings 2:3 Or carefully perform
  4. 1 Kings 2:4 Lit word
  5. 1 Kings 2:4 Or faithfulness
  6. 1 Kings 2:4 Lit there shall not be cut off to you a man from upon
  7. 1 Kings 2:5 Lit brought blood...on peace
  8. 1 Kings 2:6 I.e., the netherworld
  9. 1 Kings 2:7 Lit so they came near to me
  10. 1 Kings 2:9 I.e., the netherworld
  11. 1 Kings 2:10 I.e., died
  12. 1 Kings 2:15 Lit set their faces toward me
  13. 1 Kings 2:16 Lit turn away my face
  14. 1 Kings 2:17 Lit turn away your face
  15. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away my face
  16. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away your face
  17. 1 Kings 2:23 Lit soul
  18. 1 Kings 2:24 Lit spoke
  19. 1 Kings 2:25 Lit attacked
  20. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit are a man of death
  21. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit day
  22. 1 Kings 2:26 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  23. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit behold, beside
  24. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit attack
  25. 1 Kings 2:31 Lit attack
  26. 1 Kings 2:31 Or cause
  27. 1 Kings 2:32 Lit attacked
  28. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  29. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  30. 1 Kings 2:34 Lit attacked
  31. 1 Kings 2:37 Or wadi
  32. 1 Kings 2:37 I.e., your own responsibility
  33. 1 Kings 2:43 Lit commanded
  34. 1 Kings 2:44 Lit your heart acknowledges
  35. 1 Kings 2:46 Lit attacked
Close LEB

1 Kings 2
Lexham English Bible

David’s Instructions for Solomon

2 The 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.[a] 3 You 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, 4 so 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. 6 You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. 7 Regarding 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. 8 And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he cursed me severely[b] 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.’ 9 So 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.”

10 Then David slept with his ancestors[c] and was buried in the city of David. 11 The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned 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.

Adonijah’s Persistence

13 Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, “Are you coming in peace?”[d] He said, “Peace.” 14 Then he said, “May I have a word with you?”[e] Then she said, “Go on.” 15 He 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. 16 Now one request I am asking from you, and you must not refuse me.”[f] Then she said to him, “Go on.” 17 He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife.” 18 Then Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you.”

Solomon’s Responses to Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei

19 Bathsheba 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. 20 She said, “I have one small request I am asking from you. Do not refuse me.”[g] The king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”[h] 21 Then she said, “Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” 22 King 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.” 23 Then 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. 24 So then, as Yahweh lives,[i] 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.” 25 King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.

26 To Abiathar the priest, the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your field, for you deserve to die,[j] 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.” 27 So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 When the message came to Joab (now Joab had supported[k] Adonijah but had not supported[l] Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. 29 It 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.” 30 So 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.” 31 Then 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. 32 Yahweh 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. 33 And 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.” 34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. 35 Then 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.

36 Then 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[m] from there. 37 It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi[n] Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die.[o] Your blood will be on your head.” 38 Shimei 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.

39 It 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.” 40 So 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. 41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42 the 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,[p] know for certain that you will surely die.’[q] And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I accept.’ 43 Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?” 44 Then 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, 45 but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever.” 46 Then 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.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 2:2 Literally “as a man”
  2. 1 Kings 2:8 Literally “cursed me with a curse”
  3. 1 Kings 2:10 Or “fathers”
  4. 1 Kings 2:13 Literally “Is peace your coming?”
  5. 1 Kings 2:14 Literally “A word is for me to you”
  6. 1 Kings 2:16 Literally “not turn my face”
  7. 1 Kings 2:20 Literally “not turn my face”
  8. 1 Kings 2:20 Literally “not turn your face”
  9. 1 Kings 2:24 Literally “the life of Yahweh”
  10. 1 Kings 2:26 Literally “you are a man of death”
  11. 1 Kings 2:28 Literally “had turned after”
  12. 1 Kings 2:28 Literally “had not turned after”
  13. 1 Kings 2:36 Literally “where and where”
  14. 1 Kings 2:37 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  15. 1 Kings 2:37 Literally “dying you will die”
  16. 1 Kings 2:42 Literally “where and where”
  17. 1 Kings 2:42 Literally “dying you will die”
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