2 Samuel 16:5

¹⁶Her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go! Return!” and he returned.

²⁸“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

⁴³The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁸“Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol^[+] with blood.”

¹⁸But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there.

³⁶The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don’t go anywhere else. ³⁷For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.”

³⁸Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹At the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.”

⁴⁰Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his slaves; and Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

⁴²The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by the LORD and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die’? You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’ ⁴³Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I have instructed you with?” ⁴⁴The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head. ⁴⁵But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before the LORD forever.” ⁴⁶So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

²⁸They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.

²¹They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward,

¹⁶Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁷There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. ¹⁸A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had come over the Jordan.

¹⁹He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. ²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

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

²²David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For don’t I know that I am king over Israel today?” ²³The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king swore to him.

¹⁶because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them. ¹⁷Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. ¹⁸He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones. ¹⁹Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.