1 Kings 2:36–46

Shimei Put to Death

³⁶Then the king sent and called for ^aShimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place.

³⁷“Now it will be on the day you go out and ^across over the ¹brook Kidron, that you will know for certain that you shall surely die; ^byour blood shall be on your own head.”

³⁸Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹But it happened at the end of three years, that two of the slaves of Shimei ran away ^ato Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.”

⁴⁰Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to search for his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.

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

⁴²So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘You will know for certain that on the day you go out and go anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word which I have heard is good.’

⁴³“Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the command which I have commanded you?”

⁴⁴The king also said to Shimei, “^aYou know all the evil which ¹you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore ^bYahweh shall return your evil on your own head.

⁴⁵“But King Solomon shall be blessed, and ^athe throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.”

^46aSo the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died.

^bThus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.