David Instructs Solomon
And the days of David drew near for him to die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying:
“I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and be a man.
And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the instruction of Moses — so that you may succeed in all that you do, and wherever you turn;
so that the LORD may raise up his word that he spoke concerning me, saying: ‘If your sons keep their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, then there shall not be cut off for you a man from the throne of Israel.’
And you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me — what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether: he killed them, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on the belt that was on his waist and on the sandal that was on his feet.
So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
But with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite you shall do loyal love, and they shall be among those who eat at your table — for so they drew near to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
And look — with you is Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim. He cursed me with a grievous curse on the day I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’
But now, do not hold him innocent — for you are a wise man, and you will know what you should do to him; and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
David’s Reign and Death
And David lay down with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David.
And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.
And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingship was firmly established.
The Execution of Adonijah
And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. And she said, “Is your coming peace?” And he said, “Peace.”
And he said, “I have a word for you.” And she said, “Speak.”
And he said: “You yourself know that the kingship was mine, and all Israel set their faces on me to be king; but the kingship turned about and became my brother’s — for from the LORD it became his.
And now, one request I ask of you; do not turn my face away.” And she said to him, “Speak.”
And he said, “Say, please, to Solomon the king — for he will not turn your face away — that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
And Bathsheba said, “Good. I myself will speak for you to the king.”
And Bathsheba came to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and prostrated himself to her, and sat down on his throne; and he set a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand.
And she said, “One small request I ask of you; do not turn my face away.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother — for I will not turn your face away.”
And she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.”
And King Solomon answered and said to his mother: “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingship for him — for he is my older brother — for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!”
And King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “Thus may God do to me, and thus may he add — surely Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life.
And now, as the LORD lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he spoke — surely today Adonijah shall be put to death.”
And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
And to Abiathar the priest the king said: “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields — for you are a man of death; but on this day I will not put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all that my father was afflicted.”
So Solomon drove out Abiathar from being priest to the LORD — fulfilling the word of the LORD that he spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
The Execution of Joab
And the report came to Joab — for Joab had turned aside after Adonijah, though he had not turned aside after Absalom — and Joab fled to the tent of the LORD, and took hold of the horns of the altar.
And it was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD, and look — he was beside the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”
And Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “Thus says the king: Come out.” And he said, “No — for here I will die.” And Benaiah brought word back to the king, saying, “Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.”
And the king said to him: “Do as he has spoken. Strike him down and bury him; and you shall remove from me and from my father’s house the blood that Joab shed without cause.
And the LORD will return his blood on his own head — because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know: Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.
So their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed forever; but for David, and for his seed, and for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from the LORD.”
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death; and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.
And the king set Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and Zadok the priest the king set in the place of Abiathar.
The Execution of Shimei
And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him: “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and stay there; and you shall not go out from there anywhere at all.
And it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron — know surely that you shall surely die; your blood will be on your own head.”
And Shimei said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem many days.
And it was at the end of three years that two servants of Shimei fled to Achish the son of Maacah, king of Gath; and they told Shimei, saying, “Look — your servants are in Gath.”
And Shimei rose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned.
And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him: “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and walk anywhere at all, know surely that you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I have heard.’
So why have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I commanded you?”
And the king said to Shimei: “You yourself know all the evil that your heart knows, which you did to David my father; and the LORD has returned your evil on your own head.
But King Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the LORD forever.”
And the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.