1And the days of David drew near to die; and he commanded (tzivvah) Solomon his son, saying:
2"I am going in the way of all the earth; and you shall be strong, and you shall become a man (ish).
3And you shall keep the charge (mishmeret) of YHWH your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes (chuqqot), his commandments (mitzvot), and his judgments (mishpatim), and his testimonies (edot), as written in the Torah of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn there;
4that YHWH may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying: 'If your sons keep their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul (nephesh)' — saying, there shall not be cut off from you a man (ish) on the throne of Israel.
5And also you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he killed them, and put the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his belt that was on his loins, and on his sandals that were on his feet.
6And you shall do according to your wisdom, and not let his gray head go down in peace to Sheol.
7But to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite you shall do kindness, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they drew near to me when I fled from before Absalom your brother.
8And behold, with you is Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim, and he cursed me with a grievous curse on the day I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by YHWH, saying: I will not put you to death with the sword.
9And now, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man (ish); and you shall know what you shall do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol."
10And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years.
12And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.
13And Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon; and she said: "Is your coming in peace?" And he said: "Peace."
14And he said: "I have a word for you." And she said: "Speak."
15And he said: "You know that the kingdom was mine, and upon me all Israel set their faces to reign; but the kingdom turned about and became my brother's, for from YHWH it was his.
16And now, one petition I am asking of you; do not turn away my face." And she said to him: "Speak."
17And he said: "Say, please, to Solomon the king — for he will not turn away your face — that he give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife (ishah)."
18And Bathsheba said: "Good; I myself will speak for you to the king."
19And Bathsheba came in to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat on his throne, and set a throne for the king's mother; and she sat at his right hand.
20And she said: "One small petition I am asking of you; do not turn away my face." And the king said to her: "Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away your face."
21And she said: "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife (ishah)."
22And king Solomon answered and said to his mother: "And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also — for he is my elder brother — even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah."
23And king Solomon swore by YHWH, saying: "So may God do to me, and so may he add, for Adonijah has spoken this word against his own soul (nephesh).
24And now, as YHWH lives (chai), who has established me, and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he spoke, surely today Adonijah shall be put to death."
25And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him, and he died.
26And to Abiathar the priest the king said: "Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are a man (ish) of death; but on this day I will not put you to death, because you bore the ark of my Lord (Adonai) YHWH before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all that my father was afflicted."
27And Solomon drove out Abiathar from being priest to YHWH, to fulfill the word of YHWH that he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28And the report came to Joab — for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though after Absalom he had not turned — and Joab fled to the tent (ohel) of YHWH, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
29And it was told to king Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent (ohel) of YHWH, and behold, he is beside the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying: "Go, fall upon him."
30And Benaiah came to the tent (ohel) of YHWH, and said to him: "Thus says the king: Come out." And he said: "No, for here I will die." And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying: "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."
31And the king said to him: "Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him; and you shall remove the blood without cause that Joab shed from upon me and from upon the house of my father.
32And YHWH shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men (ish) more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it: Abner son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
33And their blood shall return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever; but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from YHWH."
34And Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and put him to death; and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.
35And the king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place over the host; and Zadok the priest the king put in the place of Abiathar.
36And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him: "Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.
37And it shall be, on the day you go out and cross over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood shall be upon your own head."
38And Shimei said to the king: "The word is good; as my lord the king has spoken, so will your servant do." And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maacah king of Gath; and they told Shimei, saying: "Behold, your servants are in Gath."
40And Shimei rose up, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.
41And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.
42And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him: "Did I not make you swear by YHWH, and warn you, saying: On the day you go out and walk anywhere, know for certain that you shall surely die? And you said to me: 'The word is good; I have heard.'
43And why have you not kept the oath of YHWH, and the commandment (mitzvah) that I commanded (tzivvah) upon you?"
44And the king said to Shimei: "You know all the evil that your heart knows, that you did to David my father; and YHWH has returned your evil upon your own head.
45And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before YHWH forever."
46And the king commanded (tzivvah) Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.