1Forsooth the days of David nighed, that he should die; and he commanded to Solomon, his son, and said,

2Lo! I enter into the way of all earth; be thou comforted, and be thou a strong man.

3And keep thou the keepings and the behests of thy Lord God, that thou go in his ways, and keep his ceremonies, and his behests, and his dooms, and witnessings, as it is written in the law of Moses; that thou under-stand all things which thou doest, and whither ever thou shalt turn thee.

4That the Lord confirm his words, which the Lord spake of me, and said, If thy sons keep my ways, and go before me in truth, in all their heart, and in all their soul, a man shall not be taken away of thee from the throne of Israel.

5Also thou knowest what things Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me; what things he did to [the] two princes of the host of Israel, to Abner, the son of Ner, and to Amasa, the son of Jether, which he killed, and shedded the blood of battle in peace; and putted [or put] the blood of battle in his girdle, that was about his loins, and in his shoes, that was in his feet.

6Therefore thou shalt do by thy wisdom, and thou shalt not lead forth his hoariness peaceably to hells, either sepulchre.

7But also thou shalt yield grace to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead, and they shall be eating in thy board; for they met me, when I fled from the face of Absalom, thy brother.

8Also thou hast with thee Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, of Bahurim, the which Shimei cursed me by the worst cursing, when I went to the defensible places; but for-thy he came down to me into my meeting, when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, and said, I shall not slay thee with sword,

9do not thou suffer him to be unpunished; forsooth thou art a wise man, and thou shalt know what thou shalt do to him, and thou shalt lead forth his hoar hairs with blood to hells [or hell].

10And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

11And the days, in which David reigned upon Israel, be forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem three and thirty years.

12Forsooth Solomon sat upon the throne of David, his father, and his realm was made steadfast greatly.

13And Adonijah, the son of Haggith, entered to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon; and she said to him, Whether thine entering is peaceable? And he answered, It is peaceable.

14And he added, A word of me is to thee. And she said, Speak thou.

15And he said, Thou knowest that the realm was mine, and all Israel purposed to make me into king to them; but the realm is translated or transferred, and is made my brother’s; for of the Lord it is ordained to him.

16Now therefore I pray of thee one asking; shame thou not my face. And she said to him, Speak thou.

17And he said, I pray, that thou say to Solomon the king; for he may not deny anything to thee; that he give me Abishag of Shunem to wife.

18And Bathsheba said, Well, I shall speak for thee to the king.

19Therefore Bathsheba came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose against the coming of her, and worshipped her, and sat on his throne; and a throne was set to the mother of the king, and she sat at his right side.

20And she said to him, I pray of thee one little asking; shame thou not my face. And the king said to her, My mother, ask thou; for it is not leaveful that I turn away thy face.

21And she said, Abishag of Shunem be given wife to Adonijah, thy brother.

22And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother, Why askest thou Abishag of Shunem to Adonijah? Ask thou to him also the realm; certainly he is mine elder brother, and he hath Abiathar, priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah.

23Therefore king Solomon swore by the Lord, and said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, for Adonijah hath spoken this word against his life.

24And now the Lord liveth, that hath confirmed me, and hath set me on the throne of [David], my father, and that hath made to me an house, as he spake, for Adonijah shall be slain today.

25And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and Benaiah slew Adonijah, and he was dead.

26Also the king said to Abiathar, the priest, Go thou into Anathoth, to thy field; and soothly thou art a man of death, that is, worthy of death, for conspiring against me, and David, my father; but today I shall not slay thee, for thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and thou sufferedest travail in all things, in which my father travailed.

27Therefore Solomon putted out Abiathar, that he should not be priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord were [ful] filled, which he spake on the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28And a messenger came to Solo-mon, and said that Joab had bowed after Adonijah, and that he had not bowed after Solomon. Therefore Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and took the horn of the altar.

29And it was told to king Solomon, that Joab had fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was beside the altar; and Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and said, Go thou, and slay him.

30And Benaiah came to the taber-nacle of the Lord, and said to Joab, The king saith these things, Go thou out. And he said, I shall not go out, but I shall die here. Benaiah told the word to the king, and said, Joab spake these things, and answered these things to me.

31And the king said to Benaiah, Do thou as he hath spoken, and slay thou him, and bury him; and thou shalt remove the innocent blood, that was shed out of Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.

32And the Lord yield on his head his blood, for he killed two just men, and better than himself, and he killed them by sword, while David, my father, knew not, Abner the son of Ner, the prince of the chivalry of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, the prince of the host of Judah.

33And the blood of them shall turn again into the head of Joab, and into the head of his seed without end; but peace be of the Lord till into without end to David, and to his seed, and to the house, and [the] throne of him.

34Therefore Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up, and assailed Joab, and killed him; and Joab was buried in his house in desert.

35And the king ordained Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, upon the host for Joab; and the king put Zadok the priest for Abiathar.

36Also the king sent, and called Shimei, and said to him, Build to thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell thou there, and thou shalt not go out from thence hither and thither;

37for in whatever day thou goest out, and passest [over] the strand [or stream] of Kidron, know thou thee worthy to be slain; thy blood shall be on thine head.

38And Shimei said to the king, The word of the king is good; as my lord the king spake, so thy servant shall do. And so Shimei dwelled in Jerusalem many days.

39But it was done after three years, that the servants of Shimei fled to Achish, the son of Maachah, king of Gath; and it was told to Shimei, that his servants had gone into Gath.

40And Shimei rose up, and saddled his ass, and went to Achish, into Gath, to seek his servants; and he brought them again from Gath.

41And it was told to king Solomon, that Shimei had gone to Gath from Jerusalem, and had come again.

42And Solomon sent, and called him, and said to him, Whether I witnessed not to thee by the Lord, and before-said to thee, In whatever day thou shalt go out hither and thither, know thou that thou shalt die; and thou answeredest to me, The word is good, which I heard?

43Why therefore keptest thou not the oath of the Lord, and the command-ment which I commanded to thee?

44And the king said to Shimei, Thou knowest all the evil, of which thine heart is guilty to thee, which evil thou didest to [David] my father; the Lord hath yielded thy malice into thine head.

45And king Solomon shall be blessed; and the throne of David shall be stable before the Lord till into without end.

46Therefore the king commanded to Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and he assailed Shimei, and smote him, and he was dead. Therefore the realm was confirmed into the hands of Solomon;