Shimei

Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’

³⁶ Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.

³⁷ On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”

³⁸ “The sentence is fair,” Shimei replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

³⁹ After three years, however, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And Shimei was told, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”

⁴⁰ So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves, and he brought them back from Gath.

⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’

⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’

⁴³ So why have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the command that I gave you?”

⁴⁴ The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head.

⁵ As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.

⁶ He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.

⁷ And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!

So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei went along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he yelled curses, threw stones, and flung dust at David.

¹⁶ Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

¹⁷ along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king

¹⁸ and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king

²¹ But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

²² And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”

²³ So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him.