26. Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “I should kill you, but I will let you go back to your home in Anathoth. I will not kill you now because you helped carry the Holy Box of the Lord GOD while marching with my father David. And I know that you shared in the hard times with my father.”
27. So Solomon told Abiathar that he could not continue to serve as a priest of the Lord. This happened as the Lord said it would when he told Eli the priest what would happen to him and his family.
28. Joab had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom. But when Joab heard what happened to Abiathar, he was frightened and ran to the tent of the Lord to hold onto the horns of the altar.
29. Someone told King Solomon that Joab was at the altar in the Lord’S Tent. So Solomon ordered Benaiah to go and kill him.
30. Benaiah went into the Lord’S Tent and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.
31. The king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says! Kill him there and take him out to bury him. Then my family and I will be free of Joab’s guilt from killing innocent people.
32. Joab killed two men who were much better than he was. He killed Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah. He did this without my father’s knowledge. But now the Lord will punish Joab for the men he killed.
33. He and his family will always be guilty for their deaths. But the Lord will bring peace to David, his descendants, his family of kings, and his kingdom forever.”
34. So Benaiah son of Jehoiada killed Joab, and he was buried near his home in the desert.
35. Solomon then made Benaiah son of Jehoiada the commander of the army in Joab’s place. Solomon also made Zadok the new high priest in Abiathar’s place.
36. Next, the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house here in Jerusalem to live in and don’t leave the city.
37. If you leave the city and go any further than Kidron Brook, you will be killed, and it will be your own fault.”
38. Shimei answered, “Yes, my king. I will obey you.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39. But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away. They went to King Achish of Gath, who was the son of Maacah. Shimei heard that his slaves were in Gath,
40. so he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish at Gath to find them. He found them there and brought them back home.
41. But someone told Solomon that Shimei had left Jerusalem and gone to Gath and back.
42. So Solomon sent for him and said, “I made you promise in the Lord’S name not to leave Jerusalem. And I warned you that if you went anywhere, you would die. And you agreed to what I said. You said that you would obey me.
43. So why didn’t you obey me? Why did you break your promise to the Lord?