1 Kings 2:37-46

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.” ¹  2:38 Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable. ²  Your servant will do as you say.” ³  So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. ⁴ 

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 ⁵  Shimei and said to him, “You will recall ⁶  that I made you take an oath by the Lord, and I solemnly warned you, ‘If you ever leave and go anywhere, ⁷  know for sure that you will certainly die.’ You said to me, ‘The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.’ ⁸  2:43 Why then have you broken the oath you made before the Lord and disobeyed the order I gave you?” ⁹  2:44 Then the king said to Shimei, “You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David. ¹⁰  The Lord will punish you for what you did. ¹¹  2:45 But King Solomon will be empowered ¹²  and David’s dynasty ¹³  will endure permanently before the Lord.” 2:46 The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei. ¹⁴ 

So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom. ¹⁵ 

[2:37]  ¹ tn Heb “your blood will be upon your head.”

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

[2:38]  ³ tn Heb “so your servant will do.”

[2:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “many days.”

[2:42]  ⁵ tn Heb “sent and summoned.”

[2:42]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “here or there.”

[2:42]  ⁸ tn Heb “good is the word; I have heard.”

[2:43]  ⁹ tn Heb “Why have you not kept the oath [to] the Lord and the commandment I commanded you?”

[2:44]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “You know all the evil, for your heart knows, which you did to David my father.”

[2:44]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The Lord will cause your evil to return upon your head.”

[2:45]  ¹² tn Or “blessed.”

[2:45]  ¹³ tn Heb “throne.”

[2:46]  ¹⁴ tn “The king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died.”

[2:46]  ¹⁵ tn “And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”