1 Kings 2:4-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Then the Lord will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’(A)
5 “Moreover, you know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, retaliating in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war and putting innocent blood[a] on the belt around my[b] waist and on the sandals on my[c] feet.(B) 6 Act, therefore, according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.(C) 7 Deal loyally, however, with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from your brother Absalom.(D) 8 There is also with you Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’(E) 9 Therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”(F)
Death of David
10 Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.(G) 11 The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.(H) 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.(I)
Solomon Consolidates His Reign
13 Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.”(J) 14 Then he said, “May I have a word with you?” She said, “Go on.” 15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel expected me to reign; however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord.(K) 16 And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Go on.” 17 He said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”(L) 18 Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king on your behalf.”
19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right.(M) 20 Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”(N) 21 She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”(O) 22 King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother, and the priest Abiathar and Joab son of Zeruiah are on his side!”(P) 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, “So may God do to me, and more also, for Adonijah has devised this scheme at the risk of his life!(Q) 24 Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David and who has made me a house as he promised, today Adonijah shall be put to death.”(R) 25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck him down, and he died.
26 The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.”(S) 27 So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.(T)
28 When the news came to Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah though he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and grasped the horns of the altar.(U)
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