⁵King David approached Bahurim. As he did, a man came out toward him. The man was from the same family group that Saul was from. His name was Shimei. He was the son of Gera. As he came out of the town, he called down curses on David. ⁶He threw stones at David and all of his officials. He did it even though all of the troops and the special guard were there. They were to the right and left of David.

⁷As Shimei called down curses, he said, “Get out! Get out, you murderer! You are a worthless and evil man! ⁸You spilled the blood of a lot of people in Saul’s family. You took over his kingdom. Now the Lord is paying you back. He has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have been destroyed because you are a murderer!”

⁹Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, spoke to the king. He said, “King David, why should we let this dead dog call down curses on you? Let me go over there. I’ll cut off his head.”

¹⁰But the king said, “You and Joab are sons of Zeruiah. What do you and I have in common? Maybe the Lord said to him, ‘Call down curses on David.’ If he did, who can ask him, ‘Why are you doing this?’ ”

¹¹Then David spoke to Abishai and all of his officials. He said, “My very own son Absalom is trying to kill me. How much more should this man from Benjamin want to kill me! Leave him alone. Let him call down curses. The Lord has told him to do it. ¹²Maybe the Lord will see how much I’m suffering. Maybe he’ll reward me with good things in place of the curses that are being called down on me today.”

¹³So David and his men kept going along the road. At the same time, Shimei was going along the hillside across from him. He was calling down curses as he went. He was throwing stones at David. He was showering him with dirt.

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