1 Kings 2:28-45

28Now the news came to Joab 1because Joab had followed Adonijah, 2though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and 3took hold of the horns of the altar. 29And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and 4was beside the altar. Then Solomon 5sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “6Go, 7execute him.” 30So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “This is what the king has said: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me.” 31And the king said to him, “8Do just as he has spoken, and 9execute him and bury him, 10so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without 11justification. 3212The Lord will return his blood on his own head, 13because he 14struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: 15Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and 16Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 3317So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his 18descendants forever; but for David and his 19descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34Then 20Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and 21struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house 22in the wilderness. 35And 23the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed 24Zadok the priest 25in place of Abiathar.

36Now the king sent men and summoned 26Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place. 37For on the day you leave and 27cross the 28brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; 29your blood will be 30on your own head.” 38Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

39But it came about at the end of three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away 31to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And others told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40Then Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I 32imposed on you?” 44The king also said to Shimei, “33You yourself know all the evil that 34you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore 35the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45But King Solomon will be blessed, and 36the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.”