1 Kings 2:22-46

2:22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why just request Abishag the Shunammite for him? ¹  Since he is my older brother, you should also request the kingdom for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

2:23 King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, “May God judge me severely, ²  if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life! ³  2:24 Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David’s throne, and established a dynasty ⁴  for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!” 2:25 King Solomon then sent ⁵  Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he killed Adonijah. ⁶ 

2:26 The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ⁷  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ⁸  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ⁹  2:27 Solomon dismissed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, ¹⁰  fulfilling the decree of judgment the Lord made in Shiloh against the family of Eli. ¹¹ 

2:28 When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported ¹²  Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ¹³  ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ¹⁴  2:29 When King Solomon heard ¹⁵  that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, ¹⁶  “Go, strike him down.” 2:30 When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he replied, “No, I will die here!” So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab’s reply. ¹⁷  2:31 The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹⁸  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ¹⁹  2:32 May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ²⁰  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²¹  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 2:33 May Joab and his descendants be perpetually guilty of their shed blood, but may the Lord give perpetual peace to David, his descendants, his family, ²²  and his dynasty.” ²³  2:34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and executed Joab; ²⁴  he was buried at his home in the wilderness. 2:35 The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to take his place at the head of ²⁵  the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest to take Abiathar’s place. ²⁶ 

2:36 Next the king summoned ²⁷  Shimei and told him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem ²⁸  and live there – but you may not leave there to go anywhere! ²⁹  2:37 If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die! You will be responsible for your own death.” ³⁰  2:38 Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable. ³¹  Your servant will do as you say.” ³²  So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. ³³ 

2:39 Three years later two of Shimei’s servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told, “Look, your servants are in Gath.” 2:40 So Shimei got up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to find his servants; Shimei went and brought back his servants from Gath. 2:41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had then returned, 2:42 the king summoned ³⁴  Shimei and said to him, “You will recall ³⁵  that I made you take an oath by the Lord, and I solemnly warned you, ‘If you ever leave and go anywhere, ³⁶  know for sure that you will certainly die.’ You said to me, ‘The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.’ ³⁷  2:43 Why then have you broken the oath you made before the Lord and disobeyed the order I gave you?” ³⁸  2:44 Then the king said to Shimei, “You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David. ³⁹  The Lord will punish you for what you did. ⁴⁰  2:45 But King Solomon will be empowered ⁴¹  and David’s dynasty ⁴²  will endure permanently before the Lord.” 2:46 The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei. ⁴³ 

So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom. ⁴⁴ 

[2:22]  ¹ tn Heb “for Adonijah.”

[2:23]  ² tn Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”

[2:23]  ³ tn Heb “if with his life Adonijah has not spoken this word.”

[2:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[2:25]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds, “by the hand of.”

[2:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he struck him and he died.”

[2:26]  ⁷ tn Or “field.”

[2:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “you are a man of death.”

[2:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “and because you suffered through all which my father suffered.”

[2:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Solomon drove out Abiathar from being a priest to the Lord.”

[2:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fulfilling the word of the Lord which he spoke against the house of Eli in Shiloh.”

[2:28]  ¹² tn Heb “turned after” (also later in this verse).

[2:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “Joab.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:28]  ¹⁴ sn Grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. The “horns” of the altar were the horn-shaped projections on the four corners of the altar (see Exod 27:2). By going to the holy place and grabbing hold of the horns of the altar, Joab was seeking asylum from Solomon.

[2:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and it was related to King Solomon.”

[2:29]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying.”

[2:30]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “saying, “In this way Joab spoke and in this way he answered me.”

[2:31]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[2:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “take away the undeserved bloodshed which Joab spilled from upon me and from upon the house of my father.”

[2:32]  ²⁰ tn Heb “The Lord will cause his blood to return upon his head.”

[2:32]  ²¹ tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”

[2:33]  ²² tn Heb “house.”

[2:33]  ²³ tn Heb “his throne.”

[2:34]  ²⁴ tn Heb “struck him and killed him.” The referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:35]  ²⁵ tn Heb “over.”

[2:35]  ²⁶ tc The Old Greek translation includes after v. 35 some fourteen verses that are absent from the MT.

[2:36]  ²⁷ tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

[2:36]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:36]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and you may not go out from there here or there.”

[2:37]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your blood will be upon your head.”

[2:38]  ³¹ tn Heb “Good is the word, as my master the king has spoken.”

[2:38]  ³² tn Heb “so your servant will do.”

[2:38]  ³³ tn Heb “many days.”

[2:42]  ³⁴ tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

[2:42]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Is it not [true]…?” In the Hebrew text the statement is interrogative; the rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course it is.”

[2:42]  ³⁶ tn Heb “here or there.”

[2:42]  ³⁷ tn Heb “good is the word; I have heard.”

[2:43]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Why have you not kept the oath [to] the Lord and the commandment I commanded you?”

[2:44]  ³⁹ tn Heb “You know all the evil, for your heart knows, which you did to David my father.”

[2:44]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “The Lord will cause your evil to return upon your head.”

[2:45]  ⁴¹ tn Or “blessed.”

[2:45]  ⁴² tn Heb “throne.”

[2:46]  ⁴³ tn “The king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died.”

[2:46]  ⁴⁴ tn “And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”