¹And the days of David approached when he would die, and he commanded Solomon his son and said, ²“I am going the way of the whole earth, so be resolute and be manly. ³And keep the charge of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments and his regulations and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, in order that you may act wisely in everything you do and everywhere you turn, ⁴in order that the Lord may establish his word which he spoke to me when he said, ‘If your sons keep their way in walking before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul’ – as he said – ‘not a man of yours shall be cut off from the throne of Israel.’ ⁵And you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me – 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 killed, and he adopted a course of warlike bloodshed in peacetime, and he applied the blood of war to his girdle around his waist and to his shoes on his feet. ⁶And you must act according to your wisdom, and do not let his grey hair go down to the grave in peace. ⁷But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be present among those who eat at your table, for they similarly came up to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ⁸And look, Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you, who cursed me with a pernicious curse 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 and said, ‘I will definitely not put you to death by the sword.’ ⁹But now, do not acquit him, for you are a wise man, and you know what you will do to him, but bring his grey hair down to the grave with blood.” ¹⁰And David lay with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David. ¹¹And the days for which David reigned over Israel amounted to forty years. In Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years. ¹²And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom became very well-established. ¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. And she said, “Is your visit in peace?” And he said, “Yes, in peace.” ¹⁴And he said, “I have a matter to discuss with you.” And she said, “Tell me.” ¹⁵And he said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel had me in view to reign, but the kingdom took a turn and fell to my brother, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶And now, I have one request which I am asking of you. Do not turn me away.” And she said to him, “Carry on.” ¹⁷And he said, “Please ask King Solomon not to turn you away, and to give me Abishag the Shunammitess as my wife.” ¹⁸And Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak on your behalf to the king.” ¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, and he bowed to her, then he sat on his throne, and he had a seat placed for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand side. ²⁰And she said, “I am asking you for a small request. Do not turn me away.” And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not turn you away.” ²¹And she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammitess be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.” ²²And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking for Abishag the Shunammitess for Adonijah? Then ask for the kingdom for him, for he is my elder brother, both for him and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³And King Solomon swore by the Lord and said, “May God do this to me and add more, if Adonijah has not spoken these words at the expense of his life. ²⁴And now, as the Lord lives, who established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who made me a house as he said he would, so Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵And King Solomon sent a force under the authority of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he fell on him, and he died. ²⁶And the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve to die, but on this day I will not have you killed, because you have carried the ark of my Lord the Lord before David my father, and because you have been afflicted by everything that my father was afflicted by.” ²⁷So Solomon ousted Abiathar from being a priest to the Lord, so fulfilling the word of the Lord which he spoke at the house of Eli in Shiloh. ²⁸And the report came to Joab, for Joab had gravitated towards Adonijah, although he had not gravitated towards Absalom, and Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and held on to the horns of the altar. ²⁹And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and there he was at the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and said, “Go and fall on him.” ³⁰When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “This is what the king says: ‘Come out.’ ” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” Then Benaiah reported back to the king and said, “Joab said this, and he answered me this way.” ³¹Then the king said to him, “Do as he said, and fall on him, and bury him, and requite the innocent blood which Joab shed of my house and my father's house. ³²And the Lord will requite his blood on his head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he is, and he killed them by the sword, but my father David was not aware 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. ³³And their blood will rebound onto Joab's head and onto the head of his seed age-abidingly, whereas David and his seed and his house and his throne will have peace age-abidingly from the Lord.” ³⁴So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and he killed him, and he was buried at his house in the desert. ³⁵Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada instead of him over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest instead of Abiathar. ³⁶And the king sent word and called for Shimei, and he said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there, moving around. ³⁷For know without doubt that it will be the case that on the day when you go out and cross the Kidron Brook you will certainly die – your blood will be on your head.” ³⁸And Shimei said to the king, “The arrangement is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days. ³⁹But it came to pass after three years that two of Shimei's servants fled to Achish the son of Maachah, the king of Gath. And they reported it to Shimei and said, “Look, your servants are in Gath.” ⁴⁰Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants. So Shimei set off, and he fetched his servants from Gath. ⁴¹And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. ⁴²So the king sent men and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not adjure you by the Lord and testify to you and say, ‘Know without doubt that on the day when you go out and move around that you will certainly die’, and you said to me, ‘The arrangement which I have heard is good.’ ⁴³So why did you not heed the oath to the Lord and the commandment which I gave you?” ⁴⁴And the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which your heart is conscious of, which you did to David my father. And the Lord has requited your evil on your head. ⁴⁵And King Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord age-abidingly.” ⁴⁶And the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell on him, and he died, and the kingdom became established through the authority of Solomon.