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1 Kings 2 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
<!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 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</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="../">NRSVCE</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 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><div class="text-html"> <h3><span id="en" class="text">David’s Instruction to Solomon</span></h3><p class="chapter-1"><span class="text"><span class="versenum">1</span>When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">2</span>“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">3</span>and keep the charge of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God, walking in his ways and keeping 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. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">4</span>Then the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">5</span>“Moreover you know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner son of Ner, and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, retaliating in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist, and on the sandals on his feet. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">6</span>Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">7</span>Deal loyally, however, with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from your brother Absalom. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">8</span>There is also with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">9</span>Therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”</span></p> <h3><span id="en" class="text">Death of David</span></h3><p><span class="text"><span class="versenum">10</span>Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">11</span>The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">12</span>So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.</span></p> <h3><span id="en" class="text">Solomon Consolidates His Reign</span></h3><p><span class="text"><span class="versenum">13</span>Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">14</span>Then he said, “May I have a word with you?” She said, “Go on.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">15</span>He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected me to reign; however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">16</span>And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Go on.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">17</span>He said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">18</span>Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king on your behalf.”</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">19</span>So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">20</span>Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">21</span>She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">22</span>King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother; ask not only for him but also for the priest Abiathar and for Joab son of Zeruiah!” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">23</span>Then King Solomon swore by the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, “So may God do to me, and more also, for Adonijah has devised this scheme at the risk of his life! </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">24</span>Now therefore as the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house as he promised, today Adonijah shall be put to death.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">25</span>So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck him down, and he died.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">26</span>The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate; for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">God</span> before my father David, and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">27</span>So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, thus fulfilling the word of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">28</span>When the news came to Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah though he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> and grasped the horns of the altar. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">29</span>When it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> and now is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">30</span>So Benaiah came to the tent of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">31</span>The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him; and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">32</span>The <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">33</span>So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> forevermore.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">34</span>Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and killed him; and he was buried at his own house near the wilderness. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">35</span>The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king put the priest Zadok in the place of Abiathar.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">36</span>Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">37</span>For on the day you go out, and cross the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that you shall die; your blood shall be on your own head.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">38</span>And Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">39</span>But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. When it was told Shimei, “Your slaves are in Gath,” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">40</span>Shimei arose and saddled a donkey, and went to Achish in Gath, to search for his slaves; Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">41</span>When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">42</span>the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, and solemnly adjure you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I accept.’ </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">43</span>Why then have you not kept your oath to the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> and the commandment with which I charged you?” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">44</span>The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to my father David; so the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> will bring back your evil on your own head. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">45</span>But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> forever.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">46</span>Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died.</span></p><p><span class="text">So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.</span></p> </div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 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