1 KINGS 2



1K 2:1When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

1K 2:2I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong therefore and be a man;

1K 2:3And keep the charge of Jehovah your God by walking in His ways, by keeping His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances and His testimonies as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;

1K 2:4That Jehovah may establish His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way by walking before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail — He said — to be a man upon the throne of Israel for you.

1K 2:5Furthermore you know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, by that which he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew; and he shed the blood of war in peace and put the blood of war upon his girdle around his loins and upon his sandals that are on his feet.

1K 2:6Do therefore according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray-haired head go down into Sheol in peace.

1K 2:7And show mercy to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they drew near to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

1K 2:8And now there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, I shall not kill you with the sword.

1K 2:9Now therefore do not hold him guiltless; for you are a wise man, and you will know what to do to him. And you shall bring his gray-haired head down into Sheol with blood.

1K 2:10And David slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David.

1K 2:11And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

1K 2:12And Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

1K 2:13Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.

1K 2:14Then he said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Speak.

1K 2:15And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel looked to me to reign; but the kingdom has turned and has become my brother’s, for it was of Jehovah to be his.

1K 2:16Now therefore I ask one thing of you; do not refuse me. And she said to him, Speak.

1K 2:17And he said, Please tell Solomon the king — for he will not refuse you — to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.

1K 2:18And Bath-sheba said, Fine; I will speak to the king for you.

1K 2:19So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself before her; and he sat on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand.

1K 2:20And she said, Let me ask one small thing of you; do not refuse me. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.

1K 2:21And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.

1K 2:22And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, since he is my older brother, indeed for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

1K 2:23Then King Solomon swore by Jehovah saying, God do so to me, and even more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

1K 2:24Now therefore as Jehovah lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as He has promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.

1K 2:25So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down so that he died.

1K 2:26And to Abiathar the priest, the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death; but I will not kill you at this time, for you bore the Ark of the Lord Jehovah before David my father and you suffered affliction in all that my father suffered.

1K 2:27So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being a priest to Jehovah, fulfilling the word of Jehovah which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

1K 2:28And the report came to Joab, for Joab had followed after Adonijah, though he had not followed after Absalom. And Joab fled into the Tent of Jehovah, and he took hold of the horns of the altar.

1K 2:29And when it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled into the Tent of Jehovah and that he was just then beside the altar, Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go and strike him down.

1K 2:30And Benaiah came to the Tent of Jehovah and said to him, Thus says the king, Come out. And he said, No; rather I will die here. Then Benaiah brought word to the king again, saying, Thus has Joab said, and thus has he answered me.

1K 2:31And the king said to him, Do as he has spoken, and strike him down and bury him, that you may remove the blood which Joab has shed without cause from me and from my father’s house.

1K 2:32And Jehovah will return his blood upon his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than himself and slew them with the sword, though my father David did not know of it, that is, Abner the son of Ner, the captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the captain of the army of Judah.

1K 2:33So their blood shall return upon Joab’s head and upon his seed’s head forever, but to David and to his seed and to his house and to his throne there shall be peace forever from Jehovah.

1K 2:34And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and killed him, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.

1K 2:35And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.

1K 2:36Then the king sent word and called for Shimei. And he said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there; and you shall not go forth from there to any place whatever.

1K 2:37For on the day that you go forth and cross over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood will be upon your own head.

1K 2:38And Shimei said to the king, This word is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

1K 2:39Then at the end of three years two of Shimei’s servants ran off to Achish the son of Maacah, the king of Gath; and they told Shimei, saying, Your servants are now in Gath.

1K 2:40So Shimei rose up and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, unto Achish, to seek his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

1K 2:41And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.

1K 2:42So the king sent word and called for Shimei; and he said to him, Did I not make you swear by Jehovah and solemnly warn you, saying, On the day that you go forth and travel to any place whatever, know for certain that you shall surely die? And you said to me, This word that I have heard is good.

1K 2:43Why then have you not kept the oath of Jehovah and the commandment that I charged you with?

1K 2:44And the king said to Shimei, You yourself know all the evil, which your heart is conscious of, that you did to David my father; and Jehovah will return your evil upon your own head.

1K 2:45But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Jehovah forever.

1K 2:46So the king gave commands to Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

1 Kings 1 1 Kings 3

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