King James Version

1 And the days of David drew near to death, and he commanded Solomon his son, saying... 2 I am walking in the way of all the earth, and you shall be strong and you shall be a man. 3 And you shall keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and in all to which you turn. 4 So that the LORD may establish His word which 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 from you a man on the throne of Israel." 5 And you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did, 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 put the blood of war in the belt that was around his waist and in the sandals that were on his feet. 6 And you shall act according to your wisdom, and do not let your gray hair go down to the grave in peace. 7 And to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, do kindness, and they shall be among those who eat at your table, for so they came to me when I fled from the face of Absalom your brother. 8 And behold, with you is Shimei the son of Gera, the son of the Benjaminite, from the chosen ones, and he cursed me with a bitter curse on the day I went out to Mahanaim, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, "If I put you to death with the sword..." 9 And now do not spare him, for you are a wise man and you know what you should do to him, and you will bring down his gray hair with blood to the grave. 10 And David died and was buried in the city of David. 11 And the days that David ruled over Israel were forty years; in Hebron he ruled seven years, and in Jerusalem he ruled thirty-three years. 12 And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and he strengthened his kingdom greatly. 13 And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, and she said, "Do you come in peace?" And he said, "Peace." 14 And he said a word to me, and you said, "Speak." 15 And he said, "You know that the kingdom was mine and all Israel set their faces toward me to reign, but the kingdom turned and became my brother's, for it was from the Lord." 16 And now I have one question I will ask of you; do not hide your face from me. And she said to me, "Speak." 17 And he said, "Please tell King Solomon that he will not turn his face from you, and let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife." 18 And Bathsheba said, "I will speak well of you to the king." 19 And Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed to her, and sat on his throne, and placed a throne for the mother of the king, and she sat at his right. 20 And she said, “One small request I ask of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” 21 And she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife." 22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? And ask for him the kingdom, for he is my older brother, and to him and to Abiathar the priest and to Joab the son of Zeruiah." 23 And King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "Thus may God do to me, and thus may He add, for Adonijah has spoken this word in my own life." 24 And now, as surely as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made for me a house, as he spoke, today Adonijah shall be put to death. 25 And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him, and he died. 26 And to Abiathar the priest, the king said, "You shall go to your fields, for you are a man of death; and on this day I will not kill you, because you carried the ark of my lord Yahweh before David my father and because you afflicted yourself with all that my father afflicted himself." 27 And Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord to fulfill the word of the Lord that He spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28 And the report came to Joab that Joab had turned after Adonijah, but he did not turn after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and 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 behold, he is by the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him." 30 And Benaiah came into the tent of the Lord and said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Go out.'" But he said, "No, for I will die here." And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, "Thus spoke Joab, and thus I answered him." 31 And the king said to him, "Do as you have spoken and deal with him, and bury him, and you will remove the innocent blood which Joab has shed from upon me and from upon my father's house." 32 And the Lord returned the blood of him upon his head who struck down two righteous and good men, and he killed them with the sword, and David did not know about Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and about Amasa son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah. 33 And their blood shall return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his seed forever, and upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne there shall be peace forever from the Lord. 34 And Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down, and he died, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. 35 And the king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada in charge of the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar. 36 And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, "Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere." 37 And it shall be on the day of your going out, and you will cross the Kidron valley, you shall surely know that you will die; your blood shall be upon your head. 38 And Shimei said to the king, "Good is the word as my lord the king has spoken; so shall your servant do." And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. 39 And it came to pass at the end of three years that two servants fled to Achish son of Maachah, king of Gath, and they told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath." 40 And Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Achish to seek 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 And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, "Did I not swear to you by the Lord and warn you, saying, 'On the day you leave and go wherever you wish, know for certain that you shall surely die'?" And Shimei said to the king, "The word is good, as you have said." 43 And why have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the command that I commanded you? 44 And the king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil that your heart knows you did to David my father, and the Lord will return your evil upon your own head." 45 And King Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever. 46 And the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him, and he died, and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.