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the time drew near for David to die, he instructed his son Solomon, 2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and show yourself a man. 3 Keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. 4 Then the Lord carried out His promise which He spoke concerning me, ‘If your sons are careful in their ways, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel’.
5 “You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel—to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He murdered them, shedding their blood in peacetime to avenge blood shed in a time of war. So he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet with the blood of war. 6 So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gilead, and let them be among those who eat at your table. They supported me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
8 “Remember also Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with bitter curses on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death with the sword’. 9 So do not consider him without guilt, for you are a wise man. You will know what to do to him, but bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”
10 Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. 11 The time that David had reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
13 Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. She asked, “Do you come peacefully?”
“Yes, peacefully,” he answered. 14 Then he continued, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead,” she replied.
15 “You know that the kingship was rightly mine,” he said, “and that all Israel expected me to be king. However, then the kingship has gone to my brother, for it was given to him by the Lord. 16 Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.”
She said to him, “Speak up.” 17 So he continued, “Please speak to King Solomon—for he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
18 “Very well, Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”
19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne. Then he had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
20 Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you. Do not refuse me.”
The king replied, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” 21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be give to Adonjah your brother as his wife.”
22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonjah? You might as well ask for the kingdom for him also! Since he is my older brother, ask on his behalf, and also on behalf of Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah.”
23 Then King Solomon swore an oath by the Lord: “May God deal severely with me, and more also, if Adonijah has not made this request at the risk of 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 So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
26 The king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your own fields at Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David and you shared all the hardships my father endured.” 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being the priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that He had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
28 When the news reached Joab, he fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. Joab had supported Adonijah in his bid, although he had not supported Absalom. 29 It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the Tent of the Lord and is now beside the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada and told him, “Go, strike him down.”
30 So Benaiah came to the Tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out’.”
But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.”
Benaiah reported to the king, “This is what Joab said, and this is what he answered me.”
31 The king said to him, “Do just as he has said. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from my father’s house the guilt of innocent blood that Joab shed. 32 The Lord will bring back his blood back on his own head because, without my father David’s knowledge, he struck down two men more righteous and better than himself. With his sword he murdered Abner son of the Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 Their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But to David and his descendants, his house and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever.”
34 Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s place, and the king put Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.
36 Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there and go anywhere else. 37 For on the day you do leave and cross the Brook Kidron, you can know for certain that you will die. Your blood will be on your own head.”
38 Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei remained in Jerusalem for a long time.
39 But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.” 40 So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to go to Achish at Gath, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought them back from Gath.
41 Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back again. 42 So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, ‘Know for certain that on the day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure that you will die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good’. I will obey. 43 Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and obey the command that I gave you?”
44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Now the Lord will bring your evil back on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.”
46 Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died.
So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hands.