rsv 1Kings:2:13-46 SEEK
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Then Adoni '
jah the son of Haggith came to Bathshe '
ba the mother of Solomon .
And she said , "
Do you come peaceably ?"
He said , "
Peaceably ."
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Then he said , "
I have something to say to you ."
She said , "
Say on ."
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He said , "
You know that the kingdom was mine ,
and that all Israel fully expected me to reign ;
however the kingdom has turned about and become my brother '
s ,
for it was his from the LORD .
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And now I have one request to make of you ;
do not refuse me ."
She said to him , "
Say on ."
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And he said , "
Pray ask King Solomon--he will not refuse you--to give me Ab '
ishag the Shu '
nammite as my wife ."
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Bathshe '
ba said , "
Very well ;
I will speak for you to the king ."
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So Bathshe '
ba went to King Solomon ,
to speak to him on behalf of Adoni '
jah .
And the king rose to meet her ,
and bowed down to her ;
then he sat on his throne ,
and had a seat brought for the king '
s mother ;
and she sat on his right .
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Then she said , "
I have one small request to make of you ;
do not refuse me ."
And the king said to her , "
Make your request ,
my mother ;
for I will not refuse you ."
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She said , "
Let Ab '
ishag the Shu '
nammite be given to Adoni '
jah your brother as his wife ."
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King Solomon answered his mother , "
And why do you ask Ab '
ishag the Shu '
nammite for Adoni '
jah ?
Ask for him the kingdom also ;
for he is my elder brother ,
and on his side are Abi '
athar the priest and Jo '
ab the son of Zeru '
iah ."
*
Then King Solomon swore by the LORD ,
saying , "
God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adoni '
jah his life !
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Now therefore as the LORD lives ,
who has established me ,
and placed me on the throne of David my father ,
and who has made me a house ,
as he promised ,
Adoni '
jah shall be put to death this day ."
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So King Solomon sent Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada ;
and he struck him down ,
and he died .
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And to Abi '
athar the priest the king said , "
Go to An '
athoth ,
to your estate ;
for you deserve death .
But I will not at this time put you to death ,
because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father ,
and because you shared in all the affliction of my father ."
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So Solomon expelled Abi '
athar from being priest to the LORD ,
thus fulfilling the word of the LORD which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh .
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When the news came to Jo '
ab --
for Jo '
ab had supported Adoni '
jah although he had not supported Ab '
salom --
Jo '
ab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar .
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And when it was told King Solomon , "
Jo '
ab has fled to the tent of the LORD ,
and behold ,
he is beside the altar ,"
Solomon sent Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada ,
saying , "
Go ,
strike him down ."
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So Benai '
ah came to the tent of the LORD ,
and said to him , "
The king commands , `
Come forth .'"
But he said , "
No ,
I will die here ."
Then Benai '
ah brought the king word again ,
saying , "
Thus said Jo '
ab ,
and thus he answered me ."
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The king replied to him , "
Do as he has said ,
strike him down and bury him ;
and thus take away from me and from my father '
s house the guilt for the blood which Jo '
ab shed without cause .
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The LORD will bring back his bloody deeds upon his own head ,
because ,
without the knowledge of my father David ,
he attacked and slew with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself ,
Abner the son of Ner ,
commander of the army of Israel ,
and Ama '
sa the son of Jether ,
commander of the army of Judah .
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So shall their blood come back upon the head of Jo '
ab and upon the head of his descendants for ever ;
but to David ,
and to his descendants ,
and to his house ,
and to his throne ,
there shall be peace from the LORD for evermore ."
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Then Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada went up ,
and struck him down and killed him ;
and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness .
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The king put Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada over the army in place of Jo '
ab ,
and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abi '
athar .
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Then the king sent and summoned Shim '
e-i ,
and said to him , "
Build yourself a house in Jerusalem ,
and dwell there ,
and do not go forth from there to any place whatever .
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For on the day you go forth ,
and cross the brook Kidron ,
know for certain that you shall die ;
your blood shall be upon your own head ."
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And Shim '
e-i said to the king , "
What you say is good ;
as my lord the king has said ,
so will your servant do ."
So Shim '
e-i dwelt in Jerusalem many days .
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But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shim '
e-i '
s slaves ran away to Achish ,
son of Ma '
acah ,
king of Gath .
And when it was told Shim '
e-i , "
Behold ,
your slaves are in Gath ,"
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Shim '
e-i arose and saddled an ass ,
and went to Gath to Achish ,
to seek his slaves ;
Shim '
e-i went and brought his slaves from Gath .
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And when Solomon was told that Shim '
e-i had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned ,
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the king sent and summoned Shim '
e-i ,
and said to him , "
Did I not make you swear by the LORD ,
and solemnly admonish you ,
saying , `
Know for certain that on the day you go forth and go to any place whatever ,
you shall die '?
And you said to me , `
What you say is good ;
I obey .'
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Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I charged you ?"
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The king also said to Shim '
e-i , "
You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to David my father ;
so the LORD will bring back your evil upon your own head .
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But King Solomon shall be blessed ,
and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever ."
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Then the king commanded Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada ;
and he went out and struck him down ,
and he died .
So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon .