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Chapter 2
1 And the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged his son Solomon, saying:
2 I am going the way of all flesh: take you courage, and shew yourself a man.
3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and observe his ceremonies, and his precepts, and judgments, and testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses: that you may understand all you do, and whithersoever you shall turn yourself:
4 That the Lord may confirm his words, which he has spoken of me, saying: If your children shall take heed to their ways, and shall walk before me in truth, with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from you a man on the throne of Israel.
5 You know also what Joab the son of Sarvia has done to me, what he did to the two captains of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether: whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to hell in peace.
7 But shew kindness to the sons of Berzellai the Galaadite, and let them eat at your table: t for they met me when I fled from the face of Absalom your brother.
8 You have also with you Semei the son of Gera the son of Jemini of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse, when I went to the camp: but because he came down to meet me when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying: I will not kill you with a sword:
9 Do not you hold him guiltless. But you are a wise man, and know what to do with him, and you shall bring down his grey hairs with blood to hell.
10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11 And the days that David reigned in Israel, were forty gears: in Hebron he reigned seven years, in Jerusalem thirty-three.
12 And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly.
13 And Adonias the son of Haggith came to Bethsabee the mother of Solomon. And she said to him: Is your coming peaceable? he answered: Peaceable.
14 And he added: I have a word to speak with you. She said to him: Speak. And he said:
15 You know that the kingdom was nine, and all Israel had preferred me to be their king: but the kingdom is transferred, and is become my brother's: for it was appointed him by the Lord.
16 Now therefore I ask one petition of you: turn not away my face. And she said to him: Say on.
17 And he said: I pray you speak to king Solomon (for he cannot deny you any thing) to give me Abisag the Sunamitess to wife.
18 And Bethsabee said: Well, I will speak for you to the king.
19 Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand.
20 And she said to him: I desire one small petition of you, do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away your face.
21 And she said: Let Abisag the Sunamitess be given to Adonias your brother to wife.
22 And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why do you ask Abisag the Sunamitess for Adonias? ask for him also the kingdom: for he is my elder brother, and has Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Sarvia.
23 Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: So and so may God do to me, and add more, if Adonias has not spoken this word against his own life.
24 And now as the Lord lives, who has established me, and placed me upon the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonias shall be put to death this day.
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Banaias the son of Joiada, who slew him, and he died.
26 And the king said also to Abiathar the priest: Go to Anathoth to your lands, for indeed you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you did carry the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and have endured trouble in all the troubles my father endured.
27 So Solomon cast out Abiathar, from being the priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Deli in Silo.
28 And the news came to Joab, because Joab had turned after Adonias, and had not turned after Solomon: and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord and laid hold on the horn of the altar.
29 And it was told king Solomon, that Joab was fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was by the altar: and Solomon sent Banaias the son of Joiada, saying: Go, kill him.
30 And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus said the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.
31 And the king said to him: Do as he has said: and kill him, and bury him, and you shall remove the innocent blood which has been shed by Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.
32 And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, because he murdered two men, just and better than himself: and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing it, Abner the son of Ner, general of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, general of the army of Juda.
33 And their blood shall return the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever. But to David and his seed and his house, and to his throne be peace for ever from the Lord.
34 So Banaias the son of Joiada went up, and setting upon him slew him, and he was buried in his house in the desert.
35 And the king appointed Banaias the son of Joiada in his room over the army, and Sadoc the priest he put in the place of Abiathar.
36 The king also sent, and called for Semei, and said to him: Build you a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there: and go not out from thence any whither.
37 For on what day soever you shall go out, and shall pass over the brook Cedron, know that you shall be put to death: your blood shall be upon your own head:
38 And Semei said to the king: The saying is good: as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. And Semei dwelt in Jerusalem, many days.
39 And it came to pass after three years, that the servants of Semei ran away to Achis the son of Maacha the king of Geth: and it was told Semei that his servants were gone to Geth.
40 And Semei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Achis to Geth to seek his servants, and he brought them out of Geth.
41 And it was told Solomon that Semei had gone from Jerusalem to Geth, and was come back.
42 And sending he called for him, and said to him: Did I not protest to you by the Lord, and tell you before: On what day soever you shall go out and walk abroad any whither, know that you shall die? And you answered me: The word that I have heard is good.
43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I laid upon you?
44 And the king said to Semei: you know all the evil, of which your heart is conscious, which you did to David my father: the Lord has returned your wickedness upon your own head:
45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever.
46 So the king commanded Banaias the son of Joiada: and he went out and struck him, and he died.