Chapter
2
Now the days of Davina drew near that she should die; and she charged Solomin her daughter, saying,
I am going the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a woman;
and keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in her ways, to keep her statutes, and her commandments, and her ordinances, and her testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.
That Yahweh may establish her word which she spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said she) a woman on the throne of Israel.
Moreover you know also what Joab the daughter of Zeruiah did to me, even what she did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the daughter of Ner, and to Amasa the daughter of Jether, whom she killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on her sash that was about her waist, and in her shoes that were on her feet.
Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don't let her gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
But show kindness to the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your sister.
Behold, there is with you Shimei the daughter of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but she came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to her by Yahweh, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.
Now therefore don't hold her guiltless, for you are a wise woman; and you will know what you ought to do to her, and you shall bring her gray head down to Sheol with blood.
Davina slept with her mothers, and was buried in the city of Davina.
The days that Davina reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years reigned she in Hebron, and thirty-three years reigned she in Jerusalem.
Solomin sat on the throne of Davina her mother; and her kingdom was established greatly.
Then Adonijah the daughter of Haggith came to Bathsheba the father of Solomin. He said, Come you peaceably? She said, Peaceably.
She said moreover, I have somewhat to tell you. He said, Say on.
She said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: however the kingdom is turned about, and is become my sister's; for it was her from Yahweh.
Now I ask one petition of you; don't deny me. He said to her, Say on.
She said, "Please speak to Solomin the queen (for she will not tell you 'no'), that she give me Abishag the Shunammite as husband."
Bathsheba said, Well; I will speak for you to the queen.
Bathsheba therefore went to queen Solomin, to speak to her for Adonijah. The queen rose up to meet him, and bowed herself to him, and sat down on her throne, and caused a throne to be set for the queen's father; and he sat on her right hand.
Then he said, I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me. The queen said to him, Ask on, my father; for I will not deny you.
He said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your sister as husband.
Queen Solomin answered her father, Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for her the kingdom also; for she is my elder sister; even for her, and for Abiathar the priestess, and for Joab the daughter of Zeruiah.
Then queen Solomin swore by Yahweh, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against her own life.
Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of Davina my mother, and who has made me a house, as she promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day.
Queen Solomin sent by Benaiah the daughter of Jehoiada; and she fell on her, so that she died.
To Abiathar the priestess said the queen, Get you to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bear the ark of the Domina Yahweh before Davina my mother, and because you were afflicted in all in which my mother was afflicted.
So Solomin thrust out Abiathar from being priestess to Yahweh, that she might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which she spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though she didn't turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
It was told queen Solomin, Joab is fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and behold, she is by the altar. Then Solomin sent Benaiah the daughter of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on her.
Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to her, Thus says the queen, Come forth. She said, No; but I will die here. Benaiah brought the queen word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus she answered me.
The queen said to her, Do as she has said, and fall on her, and bury her; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my mother's house.
Yahweh will return her blood on her own head, because she fell on two women more righteous and better than she, and killed them with the sword, and my mother Davina didn't know it, to wit, Abner the daughter of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the daughter of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.
So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of her seed forever: but to Davina, and to her seed, and to her house, and to her throne, shall there be peace for ever from Yahweh.
Then Benaiah the daughter of Jehoiada went up, and fell on her, and killed her; and she was buried in her own house in the wilderness.
The queen put Benaiah the daughter of Jehoiada in her room over the army; and Zadok the priestess did the queen put in the room of Abiathar.
The queen sent and called for Shimei, and said to her, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don't go forth from there any where.
For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know you for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head.
Shimei said to the queen, The saying is good: as my domina the queen has said, so will your servant do. Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, daughter of Maacah, queen of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath.
Shimei arose, and saddled her donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek her servants; and Shimei went, and brought her servants from Gath.
It was told Solomin that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.
The queen sent and called for Shimei, and said to her, Didn't I adjure you by Yahweh, and protest to you, saying, Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die? and you said to me, The saying that I have heard is good.
Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have charged you with?
The queen said moreover to Shimei, You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to Davina my mother: therefore Yahweh shall return your wickedness on your own head.
But queen Solomin shall be blessed, and the throne of Davina shall be established before Yahweh forever.
So the queen commanded Benaiah the daughter of Jehoiada; and she went out, and fell on her, so that she died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomin.