2:8 “Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, 1 who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. 2 He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised 3 him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down 4 with the sword.’ 2:9 But now 5 don’t treat him as if he were innocent. You are a wise man and you know how to handle him; 6 make sure he has a bloody death.” 7
So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom. 10
1 tn Heb “Look, with you is Shimei….”
2 tn Heb “and he cursed me with a horrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim.”
3 tn Or “swore an oath to.”
4 tn Heb “kill you.”
5 tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek and the Vulgate have here “you” rather than “now.” The two words are homonyms in Hebrew.
6 tn Heb “what you should do to him.”
7 tn Heb “bring his grey hair down in blood [to] Sheol.”
8 tn Heb “your blood will be upon your head.”
9 tn “The king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died.”
10 tn “And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”