1 Kings 2:25-42

²⁵So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah to go and kill Adonijah, and Benaiah did that.

²⁶Then Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth town, to your land there. You deserve to be killed, but I will not execute you now, because you were the one who supervised the men who carried Yahweh's Sacred Chest for David my father, and you endured all the troubles that my father endured.”

²⁷So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being the priest of Yahweh. By doing that he caused to happen what Yahweh had said many years previously at Shiloh, that some day he would get rid of the descendants MTY of Eli.

²⁸Joab had not supported Absalom when he tried to become the king, but he had supported Adonijah. So when Joab heard what had happened, he ran to the Sacred Tent, and he grasped the projections on the corners of the altar, because he knew that no one would kill him there.

²⁹When someone told Solomon that Joab had run to the Sacred Tent and was standing alongside the altar, Solomon told Benaiah, “Go and execute Joab.”

³⁰So Benaiah went to the Sacred Tent and said to Joab, “The king commands you to come out!” But Joab replied, “No, I will die here.” So Benaiah went back to the king and reported what he had said to Joab, and what Joab had replied.

³¹The king replied to him, “Do what he has requested. Kill him and bury his body. If you do that, my descendants MTY and I will no longer be punished for what Joab did when he killed MTY two men who ◄were innocent/had not done anything that is wrong►.

³²But Yahweh will punish MTY Joab for attacking and killing Abner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, the commander of the army of Judah, two men who were more righteous and better DOU men than he is. My father David did not even know that Joab was planning to murder them.

³³Joab and his descendants will be punished IDM forever for his murdering Abner and Amasa. But things will forever go well for David's descendants MTY who rule MTY as King David did.”

³⁴So Benaiah went into the Sacred Tent and killed Joab. Joab was buried on his property in the desert part of Judah.

³⁵Then the king appointed Benaiah to be the commander of the army instead of Joab, and he appointed Zadok to be the priest instead of Abiathar.

³⁶Then the king sent a messenger to summon Shimei, and the king said to him, “Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Remain there and do not leave the city to go anywhere.

³⁷Be sure that the day that you leave Jerusalem and go across the Kidron Brook, you will be executed, and it will be ◄your own fault/what you deserve►.”

³⁸Shimei replied, “Your Majesty, what you say is good. I will do what you have said.” So Shimei remained in Jerusalem for several years.

³⁹But three years later, two of Shimei's slaves ran away. They went to stay with Maacah's son Achish, the king of Gath city. When someone told Shimei that they were in Gath,

⁴⁰he put a saddle on his donkey and got on it and went to Gath. He found his slaves staying with King Achish and brought them back home.

⁴¹But someone told King Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.

⁴²So the king sent a soldier to summon Shimei and said to him, “I told you to solemnly promise, knowing that Yahweh MTY was listening, that you must not leave Jerusalem. I told you RHQ, ‘Be sure that if you ever leave Jerusalem, you will be executed.’ And you replied RHQ to me, ‘What you have said is good; I will do what you have said.’