1Ki 2 | AB | STEP | And the days of David drew near that he should die. And he addressed his son Solomon, saying, I go the way of all the earth;

‏ 1 Kings 2

1 And the days of David drew near that he should die. And he addressed his son Solomon, saying, I go the way of all the earth; 2 but be strong, and show yourself a man; 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep the commandments and the ordinances and the judgments which are written in the Law of Moses; that you may understand what you shall do in all things that I command you: 4 that the Lord may confirm His word which He spoke, saying, If your children shall take heed to their way to walk before Me in truth with all their heart, I promise you, saying, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel. 5 Moreover you know all that Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two captains of the forces of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, that he killed them, and shed the blood of war in peace time, and put innocent blood on his belt that was about his loins, and on his sandal that was on his foot. 6 Therefore you shall deal with him according to your wisdom, and you shall not bring down his grey hairs in peace to the grave. 7 But you shall deal kindly with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and they shall be among those that eat at your table; for thus they drew near to me when I fled from the face of your brother Absalom. 8 And behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim: and he cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went into the camp; and he came down to the Jordan to meet me, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword. 9 But you shall by no means hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man, and will know what you shall do to him, and shall bring down his grey hairs with blood to the grave. 10 And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. 11 And the days which David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 And Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was established greatly. 13 And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and bowed down to her. And she said, Do you enter peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. 14 He said, I have business with you. And she said to him, Speak on. 15 And he said to her, You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel turned their face toward me for a king; but the kingdom was turned from me and became my brother's; for it was appointed to him from the Lord. 16 And now I make one request of you, do not turn away your face. And Bathsheba said to him, Speak on. 17 And he said to her, Speak to King Solomon, for he will not turn away his face from you, and let him give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife. 18 And Bathsheba said, Very well; I will speak to the king for you. 19 And Bathsheba went in to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and kissed her, and sat on the throne, and a throne was set for the mother of the king, and she sat on his right hand. 20 And she said to him, I ask of you one little request; turn not away my face from you. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother, and I will not reject you. 21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife. 22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why have you asked for Abishag for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my older brother, and he has for his companion Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Zeruiah the commander-in-chief. 23 And King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if it be not that Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life. 24 And now as the Lord lives who has established me, and set me on the throne of my father David, and He has made me a house, as the Lord spoke, this day shall Adonijah be put to death. 25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he killed him, and Adonijah died in that day. 26 And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Depart quickly to Anathoth, to your farm, for you are worthy of death this day; but I will not slay you, because you have borne the ark of the covenant of the Lord before my father, and because you were afflicted in all things in which my father was afflicted. 27 And Solomon removed Abiathar from being a priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28 And the report came to Joab son of Zeruiah; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, and he went not after Solomon. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And it was told Solomon, saying, Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and lo! He has taken hold of the horns of the altar. And King Solomon sent to Joab, saying, What ails you, that you have fled to the altar? And Joab said, Because I was afraid of you, and fled for refuge to the Lord. And Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, Go and slay him, and bury him. 30 And Benaiah son of Jehoiada came to Joab to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And Joab said, I will not come forth, for I will die here. And Benaiah son of Jehoiada returned and spoke to the king, saying, Thus has Joab spoken, and thus has he answered me. 31 And the king said to him, Go, and do to him as he has spoken, and kill him. And you shall bury him, and you shall remove this day the blood which he shed without cause, from me and from the house of my father. 32 And the Lord has returned upon his own head the blood of his unrighteousness, inasmuch as he attacked two men more righteous and better than himself, and slew them with the sword, and my father David knew not of their blood, even Abner the son of Ner the commander-in-chief of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether the commander-in-chief of Judah. 33 And their blood is returned upon his head, and upon the head of his seed forever; but to David, and his seed, and his house, and his throne, may there be peace forever from the Lord. 34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and attacked him, and killed him, and buried him in his house in the wilderness. 35 And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the kingdom was established in Jerusalem. And as for Zadok the priest, the king appointed him to be high priest in place of Abiathar. And Solomon son of David reigned over Israel and Judah in Jerusalem. And the Lord gave understanding to Solomon, and very much wisdom, and largeness of heart, as the sand by the seashore. 36 And the king called Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and you shall not go out from there anywhere. 37 And it shall come to pass in the day that you shall go forth and cross over the Brook Kidron, know assuredly that you shall certainly die: your blood shall be upon your head. And the king caused him to swear in that day. 38 And Shimei said to the king, Good is the word that you have spoken, my lord O king: thus will your servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem three years. 39 And it came to pass after the three years, that two servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maacha king of Gath. And it was told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath. 40 And Shimei rose up, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek out his servants. And Shimei went, and brought his servants out of Gath. 41 And it was told Solomon, saying, Shimei has gone out of Jerusalem to Gath, and has brought back his servants. 42 And the king sent and called Shimei, and said to him, Did I not adjure you by the Lord, and testify to you, saying, In whatsoever day you shall go out of Jerusalem, and go to the right or left, know certainly that you shall surely die? 43 And why have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment which I commanded you? 44 And the king said to Shimei, You know all your mischief which your heart knows, which you did to David my father; and the Lord has recompensed your mischief on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever. 46 And Solomon commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went forth and killed him. And King Solomon was very prudent and wise. And Judah and Israel were very many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and rejoicing. And Solomon was chief in all the kingdoms, and they brought gifts, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon began to open the domains of Lebanon, and he built Terman in the wilderness. And this was the daily provision of Solomon, thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of ground meal, ten choice calves, and twenty oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides stags, and does, and choice fed birds. For he ruled in all the country on this side of the river, from Raphi unto Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the river. And he was at peace on all sides round about; and Judah and Israel dwelt safely, everyone under his vine and under his fig tree, eating and drinking and feasting, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. And these were the princes of Solomon: Azariu son of Zadok the priest, and Orniu son of Nathan chief of the officers, and he went to his house; and Suba the scribe, and Basa son of Achithalam the recorder, and Abi son of Joab commander-in-chief, and Achire son of Edrai was over the levites, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the household and over the brickwork, and Cachur the son of Nathan was counselor.