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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>1 Kings 2 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_kings/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/1_kings/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 1 Kings 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/1.htm" title="1 Kings 1">◄</a> 1 Kings 2 <a href="../1_kings/3.htm" title="1 Kings 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch11002" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn11002" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">David’s Last Instructions and Death.</span> <span id="v11002001" class="ver">1</span>When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to Solomon his son: <span id="v11002002" class="ver">2</span>“I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man! <span id="v11002003" class="ver">3</span><a id="ren11002003-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002003-a">a</a> Keep the mandate of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, and wherever you turn, <span id="v11002004" class="ver">4</span><a id="ren11002004-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002004-b">b</a> and that the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> may fulfill the word he spoke concerning me: If your sons so conduct themselves that they walk before me in faithfulness with their whole heart and soul, there shall never be wanting someone of your line on the throne of Israel.</p> <p><span id="v11002005" class="ver">5</span><a id="rfn11002005-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11002005-1">*</a> <a id="ren11002005-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002005-c">c</a> “You yourself know what Joab, son of Zeruiah, did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner, son of Ner, and Amasa, son of Jether: he killed them and brought the blood of war into a time of peace, and put the blood of war on the belt about his waist and the sandal on his foot. <span id="v11002006" class="ver">6</span>Act with all the wisdom you possess; do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. <span id="v11002007" class="ver">7</span><a id="ren11002007-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002007-d">d</a> But be true to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and have them among those who eat at your table. For they were loyal to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom. <span id="v11002008" class="ver">8</span><a id="ren11002008-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002008-e">e</a> You also have with you Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me bitterly the day I was going to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: ‘I will not kill you by the sword.’ <span id="v11002009" class="ver">9</span>But you must not let him go unpunished. You are wise; you will know what to do to send his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”</p> <p><span id="v11002010" class="ver">10</span><a id="ren11002010-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002010-f">f</a> David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. <span id="v11002011" class="ver">11</span><a id="ren11002011-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002011-g">g</a> David was king over Israel for forty years: he was king seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">The Kingdom Made Secure.<a id="rfn11002012-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11002012-1">*</a></span> <span id="v11002012" class="ver">12</span>Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingship was established.</p> <p><span id="v11002013" class="ver">13</span>Adonijah, son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. “Do you come in peace?” she asked. “In peace,” he answered, <span id="v11002014" class="ver">14</span>and he added, “I have something to say to you.” She replied, “Speak.” <span id="v11002015" class="ver">15</span>So he said: “You know that the kingship was mine, and all Israel expected me to be king. But the kingship passed me by and went to my brother; by the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s will it went to him. <span id="v11002016" class="ver">16</span>But now there is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” And she said, “Speak on.” <span id="v11002017" class="ver">17</span><a id="rfn11002017-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11002017-1">*</a> He said, “Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite to be my wife.” <span id="v11002018" class="ver">18</span>Bathsheba replied, “Very well, I will speak to the king for you.”</p> <p><span id="v11002019" class="ver">19</span>Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right. <span id="v11002020" class="ver">20</span>She said, “There is one small favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” The king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” <span id="v11002021" class="ver">21</span>So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah to be his wife.” <span id="v11002022" class="ver">22</span>King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask that Abishag the Shunamite be given to Adonijah? Ask the kingship for him as well, for he is my older brother! Ask for him, for Abiathar the priest, for Joab, son of Zeruiah!” <span id="v11002023" class="ver">23</span>And King Solomon swore by the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: “May God do thus to me and more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word at the cost of his life. <span id="v11002024" class="ver">24</span><a id="ren11002024-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002024-h">h</a> And now, as the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and made for me a house as he promised, this day shall Adonijah be put to death.” <span id="v11002025" class="ver">25</span>Then King Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.</p> <p><span id="v11002026" class="ver">26</span><a id="ren11002026-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002026-i">i</a> The king said to Abiathar the priest: “Go to your estate in Anathoth. Though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord <span class="tetr">God</span> before David my father and shared in all the hardships my father endured.”<a id="rfn11002026-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11002026-1">*</a> <span id="v11002027" class="ver">27</span><a id="ren11002027-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002027-j">j</a> So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from the office of priest of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, thus fulfilling the word the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> had spoken in Shiloh against the house of Eli.</p> <p><span id="v11002028" class="ver">28</span>When the news came to Joab, since he had sided with Adonijah, though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and clung to the horns of the altar. <span id="v11002029" class="ver">29</span>King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tent of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and is by the altar.” He sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, with the order, “Go, strike him down.” <span id="v11002030" class="ver">30</span>Benaiah went to the tent of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out.’ ” But he answered, “No! I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is what Joab said to me in reply.” <span id="v11002031" class="ver">31</span>The king answered him: “Do as he has said. Strike him down and bury him, and remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without provocation. <span id="v11002032" class="ver">32</span><a id="ren11002032-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002032-k">k</a> The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> will bring blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men better and more just than himself, and slew them with the sword without my father David’s knowledge: Abner, son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa, son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. <span id="v11002033" class="ver">33</span>Their blood will be upon the head of Joab and his descendants. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>.” <span id="v11002034" class="ver">34</span>Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went back, struck him down and killed him; he was buried in his house in the wilderness. <span id="v11002035" class="ver">35</span>The king appointed Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, over the army in his place; Zadok the priest the king put in place of Abiathar.</p> <p><span id="v11002036" class="ver">36</span>Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him: “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and stay there. Do not go anywhere else. <span id="v11002037" class="ver">37</span>For the day you leave, and cross the Wadi Kidron, be certain you shall surely die. Your blood shall be upon your own head.” <span id="v11002038" class="ver">38</span>Shimei answered the king: “I accept. Your servant will do just as my lord the king has said.” So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. <span id="v11002039" class="ver">39</span>But three years later, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your servants are in Gath.” <span id="v11002040" class="ver">40</span>So Shimei rose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish in Gath in search of his servants; and Shimei returned from Gath with his servants. <span id="v11002041" class="ver">41</span>When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned, <span id="v11002042" class="ver">42</span>the king summoned Shimei and said to him: “Did I not have you swear by the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and warn you clearly, ‘The day you leave and go anywhere else, be certain you shall surely die’? And you answered, ‘I accept and obey.’<a id="rfn11002042-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11002042-1">*</a> <span id="v11002043" class="ver">43</span>Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and the command that I gave you?” <span id="v11002044" class="ver">44</span><a id="ren11002044-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11002044-l">l</a> And the king said to Shimei: “In your heart you know very well the evil that you did to David my father. Now the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> is bringing your own evil upon your head. <span id="v11002045" class="ver">45</span>But King Solomon shall be blessed, and David’s throne shall be established before the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> forever.” <span id="v11002046" class="ver">46</span>The king then gave the order to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck him dead.</p> <p>And the royal power was established in Solomon’s hand.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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