Study Desk

so that the LORD may fulfill His promise which He spoke regarding me, saying, 'If your sons are careful about their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and all their soul, you shall not be deprived of a man to occupy the throne of Israel.'

"Now you yourself also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt that was on his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet.

"However, show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

"And behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a painful curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

So he said, "You yourself know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel intended for me to be king; however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother's, for it was his from the LORD.

"So now I am making one request of you; do not refuse me." And she said to him, "Speak."

Then he said, "Please speak to Solomon the king—for he will not refuse you—that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife."

Then she said, "I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "May God do so to me and more so, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life!

"Now then, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and has made me a house just as He promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!"

So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, "This is what the king has said: 'Come out.'" But he said, "No, for I will die here." So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, "This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me."

And the king said to him, "Do just as he has spoken, and execute him and bury him, so that you may remove from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without justification.

So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and solemnly warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die'? And you said to me, 'The word I have heard is good.'

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish Me to give you."

The one woman said, "Pardon me, my lord: this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.

"So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.

And the king said, "Get me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king.

But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, "Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!" But the other woman was saying, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!"

"But now the LORD my God has secured me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune.

"Now then, issue orders that they cut cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants in accordance with all that you say, for you yourself know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."