I Kings 2 Solomon reigns, and kills Adonijah, Joab and Shimei

 I Kings 2

Solomon reigns, and kills Adonijah, Joab and Shimei

12 And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom became exceedingly strong.
13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba Solomon's mother; and she said, Is your coming in peace? And he said: It is of peace.
14 Then he said, I have a word to say to you. And she said: Speak.
15 He therefore said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set their sights on me, that I should reign, though the kingdom was transferred, and became my brother's, because it was made his by the Lord.
16 So now I make one petition to you; do not reject me. And she said to him: Speak.
17 And he said, I pray thee speak to king Solomon (for he will not reject thee) to give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.
18 And Bathsheba said, Well, I will speak for you to the king.
19 So Bathsheba came to king Solomon, speaking to him by Adonijah: and the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; so he sat down on his throne, and had a chair set up for the king's mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
20 Then she said, I only ask you one small request: do not reject me. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother, for I will not make you turn your face away.
21 And she said, Give me Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah your brother to wife.
22 Then king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask also for him the kingdom (for he is my elder brother), for him, I say, and also for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.
23 And king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, May God do so to me, and more, if Adonijah had not spoken this word against his life.
24 Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who established me, and made me sit on the throne of David my father, and who has made me an house, as he said, that Adonijah shall die today.
25 And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, which fell on him, and he died.
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for he is a man worthy of death: but I will not kill you today, because you have borne the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all that my father was afflicted.
27 So Solomon cast out Abiathar, that he should not be a priest of the LORD, to fulfill the word of the LORD, which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 And the fame came unto Joab (because Joab had gone astray following Absalom), and Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29 And they told king Solomon that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and, behold, he is by the altar: then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, strike him.
30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come out of there. And he said, No, but here I will die. And Benaiah returned with answer to the king, saying, Thus spake Joab, and thus did he answer me.
31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and lay on him, and bury him, that he may take away from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without cause.
32 So the Lord will bring his blood back on his own head, because he gave two men more righteous and better than he alone, and killed them with the sword, without my father David knowing it, namely: Abner, son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel and to Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.
33 Thus shall the blood of these return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed, for ever; but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, the Lord will give peace forever and ever.
34 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.
35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the host, and Zadok the priest the king put in place of Abiathar.
36 Then the king sent and called Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there, to one place or to the other.
37 For it shall come to pass, in the day that thou goest forth, and passest over the brook Cedron, thou shalt know for a certainty that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be on thy head.
38 And Shimei said to the king, Good is the saying; as my lord the king has said, so shall your servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 But it came to pass at the end of three years, that two servants of Shimei fled to Achish, the son of Maacah, king of Gath: and they reported to Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants are in Gath.
40 Then Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath, to Achish, to fetch his servants: so Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.
41 And they told Solomon that Shimei from Jerusalem had gone to Gath, and had come back.
42 Then the king sent and called Shimei, and said to him, Did I not adjure thee by the LORD, and charge against thee, saying, In the day that thou goest out to one place or another, know thou surely that thou shalt surely die? And you said to me: Good is that word that I heard.
43 Why then did you not keep the oath of the Lord, nor the commandment that I commanded you?
44 The king said to Shimei, Well thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart knowest that thou hast done to David my father; therefore the Lord has brought your iniquity on your own head.
45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.
46 And the king sent to Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, who went out, and fell upon him, and died: thus was the kingdom confirmed in the hand of Solomon.