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¹ NOW the days of David to die drew near; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,² I go the way of all the earth; be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;³ And keep the charge of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways and 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 succeed wherever you go;⁴ That the LORD may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their ways, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.⁵ Now, you know also what Joab the son of Zoriah did to me, and 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, whom he slew and considered them as though they were in the battle, and shed their blood with the sword that was about his loins and trampled upon it with the shoes that were on his feet.⁶ Do to him therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to the grave in peace.⁷ But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they ministered to me in everything when I fled from Absalom your brother.⁸ And, behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the house of Horim, who cursed me with grievous curses on the day when 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 with the sword.⁹ Now therefore hold him not guiltless; for you are a wise man, and know what you ought to do to him; and bring his folly on his head; and you shall bring down his hoary head with blood to Sheol.¹⁰ So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.¹¹ And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem.

¹² Then Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.¹³ And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said to him, Have you come in peace? And he said, In peace.¹⁴ Then he said to her, I have something to say to you. And she said to him, Say on.¹⁵ And he said to her, You know that the kingdom rightly was mine, and that all Israel were looking forward to me to be king over them; but the kingdom was taken from me and is become my brothers; for it was his from the LORD.¹⁶ And now I make one petition of you, do not refuse me. And she said to him, Say on.¹⁷ And he said to her, Speak to King Solomon (for he will not refuse you) that he give me Abishag the Shilommite to wife.¹⁸ And Bath-sheba said, Very well; I will speak for you to the king.¹⁹ Bath-sheba therefore went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself to her and then sat on his throne, and they brought a chair for the kings mother; and she sat on his right hand.²⁰ Then she said, I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not refuse you.²¹ And she said to him, Let Abishag the Shilommite be given to Adonijah your brother to wife.²² And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, Why do you ask Abishag the Shilommite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; ask even for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab the son of Zoriah.²³ Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.²⁴ Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.²⁵ And King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he attacked him and slew him.

²⁶ And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death; but I will not at this time put you to death because you bore the ark of the LORD before David my father and because you have been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.²⁷ So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD; that the word of the LORD might be fulfilled which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.²⁸ Now when the news reached Joab that Adonijah had been slain (for Joab had been leaning toward Adonijah and he was not leaning toward Solomon), Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD and took refuge on the horns of the altar.²⁹ And it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the LORD and had taken refuge on the horns of the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go and attack him.³⁰ And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD and said to him, Thus says the king. Come forth. But he said, No, I will not go out; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.³¹ And the king said to him, Do to him as he has said, and attack him and kill him, that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me and from the house of my father.³² And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, because he attacked two men more righteous and better than he and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing of it; namely, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel; and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.³³ Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants for ever; but to David and to his descendants and to his house and to his throne shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.³⁴ So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and attacked him and slew him; and he was buried in his own sepulchre in the wilderness.

³⁵ Then King Solomon appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his stead over the army; and Zadok the priest the king appointed in the place of Abiathar.³⁶ And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go forth from there hither and thither.³⁷ For on the day that you go out and cross the brook Kidron, you shall know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood shall be upon your own head.³⁸ And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.³⁹ And it came to pass at the end of three years that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath.⁴⁰ And Shimei arose and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants; and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.⁴¹ And it was told King 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 make you to swear by the LORD, and witnessed against you, saying, Know for certain, on the day that you go out of Jerusalem and cross the brook Kidron, you shall surely die? And you said to me, The saying is good, so will I do.⁴³ Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I have charged you with?⁴⁴ The king said moreover to Shimei, You know all the evil of which your heart is conscious that you did to David my father; therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness upon your own head;⁴⁵ And King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.⁴⁶ So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and attacked him so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.