1 Kings 2

1 The days drew near for David to die, and he gave a charge to Solomon his son. He said: [a] 2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, then, and be a man. 3 Keep the charge of the Lord your God: walk in his ways, keep his commands and his rules and his judgments, as they are written in the law of Moses, so that you may understand what you are to do in everything I command you, 4 and so that the Lord may confirm the word he spoke, when he said, ‘If your sons watch their way and walk before me in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul,’ he said, ‘no man of yours will be destroyed from the throne of Israel.’ [b]

5 “And you yourself know all that Joab son of Zeruiah did to me — what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether: he killed them, and he laid the blood of war in a time of peace, and he put innocent blood on the belt around his waist and on the sandal on his foot. [c] 6 So you will act according to your wisdom, and you will not bring his gray hairs down in peace to Hades. 7 But show mercy to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for it was in that way that they came near to me when I was running from the face of Absalom your brother.

8 “And look, with you is Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite, from Bahurim. He cursed me with a bitter curse on the day I went to the Camps, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ [d] 9 But you are not to hold him guiltless. You are a wise man, and you will know what to do to him; and you will bring his gray hairs down with blood to Hades.”

10 And David slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David. 11 The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem thirty-three years. 12 And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, being twelve years old, and his kingdom was firmly established. [e]

13 And Adonijah son of Haggith came in to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon and bowed down to her. She said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace. 14 I have a word for you.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 15 And he said to her, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel set its face toward me to be king; but the kingdom was turned away and became my brother’s, for it came to him from the Lord. 16 And now I ask one request of you; do not turn your face away.” And Bathsheba said to him, “Speak.” 17 And he said to her, “Please speak to Solomon the king — for he will not turn his face away from you — and let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” [f] 18 And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

19 So Bathsheba went in to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and kissed her and sat down on his throne; and a throne was set for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand. 20 And she said to him, “I ask one small request of you; do not turn your face away.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn you away.” 21 And she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.”

22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him as well! For he is my brother, older than I am, and Abiathar the priest is with him, and Joab son of Zeruiah, the commander of the army, is his companion.” 23 And King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. 24 And now, as the Lord lives, who established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who made me a house, as the Lord promised — today Adonijah will be put to death.” 25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and Adonijah died that day.

26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Off with you to Anathoth, to your own field, for you are a man of death this day. But I will not put you to death, because you carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord before my father, and because you were made to suffer in everything my father suffered.” 27 And Solomon drove Abiathar out from being a priest of the Lord, so that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which he spoke about the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 And the news came to Joab son of Zeruiah — for Joab had turned aside after Adonijah and had not turned after Solomon — and Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. [g] 29 And it was reported to Solomon: “Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and look, he is holding the horns of the altar.” And Solomon sent to Joab, saying, “What has happened to you, that you have fled to the altar?” And Joab said, “Because I was afraid of you, and I fled to the Lord.” And King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and strike him down and bury him.” [h]

30 And Benaiah son of Jehoiada came to Joab at the tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king says this: Come out.” And Joab said, “I am not coming out. I will die here.” And Benaiah son of Jehoiada went back and spoke to the king, saying, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.” 31 And the king said to him, “Go and do to him as he has said. Strike him down and bury him, and take away today the blood that Joab shed for nothing, from me and from the house of my father. 32 And the Lord has turned back the blood of his wrongdoing on his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than himself and killed them with the sword — and my father David did not know of their blood — Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah. 33 Their blood has come back on his head and on the head of his seed forever; but to David and to his seed and to his house and to his throne may there be peace forever from the Lord.” 34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up to meet Joab, and put him to death, 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 set firm in Jerusalem; and the king appointed Zadok the priest to be first priest in place of Abiathar. [i]

And the Lord gave discernment to Solomon, and very great wisdom, and breadth of heart like the sand beside the sea. And Solomon’s discernment grew far beyond the discernment of all the ancients and beyond all the wise men of Egypt. And he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord first of all, and the wall of Jerusalem all around. In seven years he made them and finished them.

And Solomon had seventy thousand men who carried loads and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain. And Solomon made the sea, and the supports, and the great basins, and the pillars, and the fountain of the court, and the bronze sea. And he built the citadel and its ramparts, and he cut a breach through the city of David; and so Pharaoh’s daughter went up out of the city of David to her own house, which he built for her. Then he built the citadel. And Solomon offered up three whole burnt offerings a year, and peaceable offerings, on the altar that he built to the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord. And he finished the house. And these are the leaders who were set over Solomon’s works: three thousand six hundred taskmasters of the people who did the work. And he built Assur and Megiddo and Gezer and Upper Beth-horon and Baalath — only after he had built the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem all around did he build these cities.

And while David was still alive he charged Solomon, saying: “Look, with you is Shimei son of Gera, of the seed of Benjamin, from Hebron. He cursed me with a bitter curse on the day I went to the Camps, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, ‘He will not be put to death by the sword.’ But now do not hold him guiltless, for you are a discerning man and you will know what to do to him; and you will bring his gray hairs down with blood to Hades.”

36 And the king called Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and stay there, and do not go out from there to any place at all. 37 For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.” And the king made him swear to it on that day. 38 And Shimei said to the king, “The word you have spoken is good, my lord the king. Your servant will do so.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem three years.

39 And after three years it happened that two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath; and it was reported to Shimei: “Look, your slaves are in Gath.” [m] 40 And Shimei rose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to search out his slaves; and Shimei went and brought his slaves back from Gath. 41 And it was reported to Solomon: “Shimei has gone out of Jerusalem to Gath, and he has brought his slaves back.”

42 And the king sent and called Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you go out of Jerusalem and go to the right or to the left, know for certain that you will die’? 43 Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the command that I laid on you?” 44 And the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil your own heart knows, all that you did to David my father; and the Lord has paid back your evil on your own head. 45 And King Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David will stand firm before the Lord forever.” 46 And King Solomon gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. [n]

And King Solomon was very understanding and wise. Judah and Israel were very many, like the sand by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. And Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms, and they brought gifts and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon began to open up the dominions of Lebanon, and he himself built Thermai in the wilderness. And this was Solomon’s daily provision: about a hundred and eighty bushels of fine flour and about three hundred and sixty bushels of ground meal, ten choice calves and twenty oxen out of the pastures and a hundred sheep, besides deer and gazelles and choice birds from the pastures.

For he was ruler over all the country beyond the River, from Raphi as far as Gaza, over all the kings beyond the River; and he had peace on every side around him. And Judah and Israel lived in confidence, each man under his own vine and under his own fig tree, eating and drinking, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. And these were Solomon’s leaders: Azariah son of Zadok the priest; Orniu son of Nathan, leader over the men set in charge; Edram over his household; Suba the scribe; Basa son of Ahithalam, the recorder; Abi son of Joab, the commander of the army; Ahire son of Edrai over the work gangs; Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the court and over the brickworks; and Zachur son of Nathan the counselor. And Solomon had forty thousand brood mares for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. And he reigned over all the kings from the River as far as the land of the Philistines and to the borders of Egypt. So Solomon son of David reigned over Israel and Judah in Jerusalem.