1. Now the days of Dovid drew near that he should die; and he charged Sh'lomo Bno, saying,
2. I go the derech kol ha'aretz; be thou chazak therefore, and show thyself a man;
3. And be shomer over the mishmeret (requirement, charge) of Hashem Eloheicha, to walk in His derakhim, to be shomer over His chukkot (decrees), and His mitzvot, and His mishpatim (ordinances), and His edot (testimonies), as it is written in the Torat Moshe, so that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and wherever thou turnest;
4. So that Hashem may uphold His Davar (Word, Promise) which He spoke concerning me, saying, If thy banim are shomer over their derech, to walk before Me in emes with all their lev and with all their nefesh, there shall not yikaret l'cha (be cut off of you, fail thee) Ish on the Kisse Yisroel.
5. Moreover thou knowest also what Yoav Ben Tzeruyah did to me, and what he did to the two sarim of the Tzivos Yisroel (Armies of Yisroel), unto Avner Ben Ner, and unto Amasa Ben Yeter, whom he killed, and the shefach dahm of war in shalom (peacetime), and put the dahm of milchamah (war) upon his khagorah (sword belt) that was about his loins, and on his na'alayim (sandals) that were on his raglayim.
6. Do therefore according to thy chochmah, and let not his gray head go down to Sheol in shalom.
7. But show chesed unto the Bnei Barzillai the Gileadi, and let them be of those that eat at thy shulchan; for so they stood by me when I fled from before Avshalom achicha.
8. And, hinei, thou hast with thee Shime'i Ben Gera the Binyamini of Bachurim, which cursed me with a kelalah (curse) nimretzet (grievous, strong) on the day when I went to Machanayim; but he came down to meet me at Yarden, and I swore a shevu'ah to him by Hashem, saying, I will not put thee to death with the cherev.
9. Now therefore hold him not guiltless; for thou art an ish chacham, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his gray head bring thou down with dahm to She'ol.
10. So Dovid slept with his avot, and was buried in Ir Dovid.
11. And the yamim that Dovid reigned as Melech over Yisroel were arba'im shanah; sheva shanim reigned he in Chevron, and shloshim v'shalosh shanim reigned he in Yerushalayim.
12. Then sat Sh'lomo upon the Kisse Dovid Aviv; and Malchuso was firmly established.
13. And Adoniyah Ben Chaggit came to Bat-Sheva Em Sh'lomo. And she said, Comest thou in shalom? And he said, Shalom.