37. On the day you so much as cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die; and your blood will be on your own head.”
38. Shimei replied, “Your sentence is fair; I will do whatever my lord the king commands.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39. But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were,
40. he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to search for them. When he found them, he brought them back to Jerusalem.
41. Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned.
42. So the king sent for Shimei and demanded, “Didn’t I make you swear by the lord and warn you not to go anywhere else or you would surely die? And you replied, ‘The sentence is fair; I will do as you say.’
43. Then why haven’t you kept your oath to the lord and obeyed my command?”
44. The king also said to Shimei, “You certainly remember all the wicked things you did to my father, David. May the lord now bring that evil on your own head.
45. But may I, King Solomon, receive the lord’s blessings, and may one of David’s descendants always sit on this throne in the presence of the lord.”
46. Then, at the king’s command, Benaiah son of Jehoiada took Shimei outside and killed him.So the kingdom was now firmly in Solomon’s grip.