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1 Kings 2:12-46
New English Translation

Solomon Secures the Throne

12 Solomon sat on his father David’s throne, and his royal authority[a] was firmly solidified.

13 Haggith’s son Adonijah visited Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come in peace?” He answered, “Yes.”[b] 14 He added,[c] “I have something to say to you.” She replied, “Speak.” 15 He said, “You know that the kingdom[d] was mine and all Israel considered me king.[e] But then the kingdom was given to my brother, for the Lord decided it should be his.[f] 16 Now I’d like to ask you for just one thing. Please don’t refuse me.”[g] She said, “Go ahead and ask.”[h] 17 He said, “Please ask King Solomon if he would give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife, for he won’t refuse you.”[i] 18 Bathsheba replied, “That’s fine;[j] I’ll speak to the king on your behalf.”

19 So Bathsheba visited King Solomon to speak to him on Adonijah’s behalf. The king got up to greet[k] her, bowed to her, and then sat on his throne. He ordered a throne to be brought for the king’s mother,[l] and she sat at his right hand. 20 She said, “I would like to ask you for just one small favor.[m] Please don’t refuse me.”[n] He said,[o] “Go ahead and ask, my mother, for I would not refuse you.” 21 She said, “Allow Abishag the Shunammite to be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.” 22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why just request Abishag the Shunammite for him?[p] Since he is my older brother, you should also request the kingdom for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

23 King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, “May God judge me severely,[q] if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life![r] 24 Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David’s throne, and established a dynasty[s] for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!” 25 King Solomon then sent[t] Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he killed Adonijah.[u]

26 The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property[v] in Anathoth. You deserve to die,[w] but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.”[x] 27 Solomon removed Abiathar from being a priest for the Lord, fulfilling the Lord’s message that he had pronounced against the family of Eli in Shiloh.

28 When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported[y] Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he[z] ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.[aa] 29 When King Solomon heard[ab] that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada,[ac] “Go, strike him down.” 30 When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he replied, “No, I will die here!” So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab’s reply.[ad] 31 The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family[ae] the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds.[af] 32 May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed;[ag] behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he[ah]—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 33 May Joab and his descendants be perpetually guilty of their shed blood, but may the Lord give perpetual peace to David, his descendants, his family,[ai] and his dynasty.”[aj] 34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and executed Joab;[ak] he was buried at his home in the wilderness. 35 The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to take his place at the head of[al] the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest to take Abiathar’s place.[am]

36 Next the king summoned[an] Shimei and told him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you may not leave there to go anywhere.[ao] 37 If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die. You will be responsible for your own death.”[ap] 38 Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable.[aq] Your servant will do as you say.”[ar] So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.[as]

39 Three years later two of Shimei’s servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told, “Look, your servants are in Gath.” 40 So Shimei got up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to find his servants; Shimei went and brought back his servants from Gath. 41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had then returned, 42 the king summoned[at] Shimei and said to him, “You will recall[au] that I made you take an oath by the Lord, and I solemnly warned you, ‘If you ever leave and go anywhere,[av] know for sure that you will certainly die.’ You said to me, ‘The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.’[aw] 43 Why then have you broken the oath you made before the Lord and disobeyed the order I gave you?”[ax] 44 Then the king said to Shimei, “You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David.[ay] The Lord will punish you for what you did.[az] 45 But King Solomon will be empowered,[ba] and David’s dynasty[bb] will endure permanently before the Lord.” 46 The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei.[bc]

So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom.[bd]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 2:12 tn Or “kingship.”
  2. 1 Kings 2:13 tn Heb “[in] peace.”
  3. 1 Kings 2:14 tn Heb “and he said.”
  4. 1 Kings 2:15 tn Or “kingship.”
  5. 1 Kings 2:15 tn Heb “set their face to me to be king.”
  6. 1 Kings 2:15 tn Heb “and the kingdom turned about and became my brother’s, for from the Lord it became his.”
  7. 1 Kings 2:16 tn Heb “Do not turn back my face.”
  8. 1 Kings 2:16 tn Heb “She said, ‘Speak!’”
  9. 1 Kings 2:17 tn Heb “Say to Solomon the king, for he will not turn back your face, that he might give to me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife.”
  10. 1 Kings 2:18 tn Heb “[It is] good!”
  11. 1 Kings 2:19 tn Or “meet.”
  12. 1 Kings 2:19 tn Heb “he set up a throne for the mother of the king.”
  13. 1 Kings 2:20 tn Or “I’d like to make just one request of you.”
  14. 1 Kings 2:20 tn Heb “Do not turn back my face.”
  15. 1 Kings 2:20 tn Heb “and the king said to her.”
  16. 1 Kings 2:22 tn Heb “for Adonijah.”
  17. 1 Kings 2:23 tn Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”
  18. 1 Kings 2:23 tn Heb “if with his life Adonijah has not spoken this word.”
  19. 1 Kings 2:24 tn Heb “house.”
  20. 1 Kings 2:25 tn The Hebrew text adds, “by the hand of.”
  21. 1 Kings 2:25 tn Heb “and he struck him and he died.”
  22. 1 Kings 2:26 tn Or “field.”
  23. 1 Kings 2:26 tn Heb “you are a man of death,” an idiom.
  24. 1 Kings 2:26 tn Heb “and because you suffered through all which my father suffered.”
  25. 1 Kings 2:28 tn Heb “turned after” (also later in this verse).
  26. 1 Kings 2:28 tn Heb “Joab.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  27. 1 Kings 2:28 sn Grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. The “horns” of the altar were the horn-shaped projections on the four corners of the altar (see Exod 27:2). By going to the holy place and grabbing hold of the horns of the altar, Joab was seeking asylum from Solomon.
  28. 1 Kings 2:29 tn Heb “and it was related to King Solomon.”
  29. 1 Kings 2:29 tn Heb “so Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying.”
  30. 1 Kings 2:30 tn Heb “saying, “In this way Joab spoke and in this way he answered me.”
  31. 1 Kings 2:31 tn Heb “house.”
  32. 1 Kings 2:31 tn Heb “take away the undeserved bloodshed which Joab spilled from upon me and from upon the house of my father.”
  33. 1 Kings 2:32 tn Heb “The Lord will cause his blood to return upon his head.”
  34. 1 Kings 2:32 tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”
  35. 1 Kings 2:33 tn Heb “house.”
  36. 1 Kings 2:33 tn Heb “his throne.”
  37. 1 Kings 2:34 tn Heb “struck him and killed him.” The referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  38. 1 Kings 2:35 tn Heb “over.”
  39. 1 Kings 2:35 tc The Old Greek translation includes after v. 35 some fourteen verses that are absent from the MT.
  40. 1 Kings 2:36 tn Heb “sent and summoned.”
  41. 1 Kings 2:36 tn Heb “and you may not go out from there here or there.”
  42. 1 Kings 2:37 tn Heb “your blood will be upon your head.”
  43. 1 Kings 2:38 tn Heb “Good is the word, as my master the king has spoken.”
  44. 1 Kings 2:38 tn Heb “so your servant will do.”
  45. 1 Kings 2:38 tn Heb “many days.”
  46. 1 Kings 2:42 tn Heb “sent and summoned.”
  47. 1 Kings 2:42 tn Heb “Is it not [true]…?” In the Hebrew text the statement is interrogative; the rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course it is.”
  48. 1 Kings 2:42 tn Heb “here or there.”
  49. 1 Kings 2:42 tn Heb “good is the word; I have heard.”
  50. 1 Kings 2:43 tn Heb “Why have you not kept the oath [to] the Lord and the commandment I commanded you?”
  51. 1 Kings 2:44 tn Heb “You know all the evil, for your heart knows, which you did to David my father.”
  52. 1 Kings 2:44 tn Heb “The Lord will cause your evil to return upon your head.”
  53. 1 Kings 2:45 tn Or “blessed.”
  54. 1 Kings 2:45 tn Heb “throne.”
  55. 1 Kings 2:46 tn “The king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died.”
  56. 1 Kings 2:46 tn “And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”
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1 Kings 2:12-46
New American Standard Bible

12 Then (A)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, “(B)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 (C)the kingdom was mine and (D)that all Israel [a]intended for me to be king; (E)however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother’s, (F)for it was his from the Lord. 16 So now I am making one request of you; do not [b]refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 17 Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king—for he will not [c]refuse you—that he may give me (G)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 (H)had a throne set up for the king’s mother, and (I)she sat on his right. 20 Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; (J)do not [d]refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not [e]refuse you.” 21 So she said, “(K)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? (L)Request for him the kingdom as well—(M)since he is my older brother—for him, for (N)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 (O)not spoken this word against his own [f]life! 24 Now then, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and (P)has made me a house just as He [g]promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!” 25 Then King Solomon (Q)sent the order by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he [h]struck him so that he died.

26 Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “(R)Go to Anathoth to your own field, (S)for you [i]deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this [j]time, because (T)you carried the ark of the Lord [k]God before my father David, and because (U)you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, to fulfill (V)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 (W)because Joab had followed Adonijah, (X)though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and (Y)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 [l]was beside the altar. Then Solomon (Z)sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “(AA)Go, [m]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, “(AB)Do just as he has spoken, and [n]execute him and bury him, (AC)so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without [o]justification. 32 (AD)The Lord will return his blood on his own head, (AE)because he [p]struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: (AF)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and (AG)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 (AH)So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his [q]descendants forever; but for David and his [r]descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34 Then (AI)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and [s]struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house (AJ)in the wilderness. 35 And (AK)the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed (AL)Zadok the priest (AM)in place of Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent men and summoned (AN)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 (AO)cross the [t]brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; (AP)your blood will be [u]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 (AQ)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 [v]imposed on you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “(AR)You yourself know all the evil that [w]you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore (AS)the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and (AT)the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.” 46 (AU)So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and [x]struck him so that he died.

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

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 2:15 Lit set their faces toward me
  2. 1 Kings 2:16 Lit turn away my face
  3. 1 Kings 2:17 Lit turn away your face
  4. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away my face
  5. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away your face
  6. 1 Kings 2:23 Lit soul
  7. 1 Kings 2:24 Lit spoke
  8. 1 Kings 2:25 Lit attacked
  9. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit are a man of death
  10. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit day
  11. 1 Kings 2:26 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  12. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit behold, beside
  13. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit attack
  14. 1 Kings 2:31 Lit attack
  15. 1 Kings 2:31 Or cause
  16. 1 Kings 2:32 Lit attacked
  17. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  18. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  19. 1 Kings 2:34 Lit attacked
  20. 1 Kings 2:37 Or wadi
  21. 1 Kings 2:37 I.e., your own responsibility
  22. 1 Kings 2:43 Lit commanded
  23. 1 Kings 2:44 Lit your heart acknowledges
  24. 1 Kings 2:46 Lit attacked
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