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1 Kings 2:36–46 — The Execution of Shimei. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

But it is difficult, in face of David’s charge, to doubt that it was in some degree intended as a snare;

Ellicott is the dissenting conscience of this unit's apparatus: he grants the legality and the policy, then refuses to call the arrangement equitable.

source ↗

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Keeping him under close watch, he could hardly fail to find him tripping.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

and he might judge from the temper of the man, and indeed from the nature of men in general, that what they are forbidden they are the most prone unto

Gill frankly credits Solomon with expecting the man to break, which is an argument about Solomon's motive, not about the text's report.

source ↗

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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ way·yiš·laḥ way·yiq·rā lə·šim·‘î way·yō·mer lōw bə·nêh- ḇa·yiṯ lə·ḵā bî·rū·šā·lim wə·yā·šaḇ·tā šām wə·lō- ṯê·ṣê miš·šām ’ā·neh wā·’ā·nāh

Word by word17 · parsed

הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ham·me·leḵThen the kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וַיִּשְׁלַ֤חway·yiš·laḥsummonedH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

shâlach: to send away, for, or out The king sends, and the whole test he is about to impose concerns whether Shimei will send himself out. Sovereign motion is the king's; Shimei's is forfeit.

וַיִּקְרָ֣אway·yiq·rā. . .H7121

√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

לְשִׁמְעִ֔יlə·šim·‘îShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֣אמֶרway·yō·merand saidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ל֗וֹlōwto him

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

בְּֽנֵה־bə·nêh-BuildH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular

bânâh: to build (literally and figuratively) Qal imperative, the first word Solomon addresses to Shimei. In the Deuteronomistic vocabulary this root is load-bearing: the LORD builds David a house (2 Samuel 7:11) and Solomon builds the house of the LORD. Here it builds a boundary. Cambridge reads the order as surveillance: “Keeping him under close watch, he could hardly fail to find him tripping.”

בַ֙יִת֙ḇa·yiṯa houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular

bayith: a house, especially family Both dwelling and dynasty. The Pulpit notes the practical difficulty that Jewish land law (Leviticus 25:23) would make an outright purchase in Jerusalem awkward, which is perhaps why Shimei is told to build rather than to buy. Cambridge infers from the speed of it that Shimei was a wealthy man.

לְךָ֥lə·ḵāfor yourself

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

בִּיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םbî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

Jerusalem: not a favour but a jurisdiction. Benson and Poole agree the point was to move him off his own ground in Benjamin, where “his kindred, and estates, and interest lay,” into a city where he was a stranger and where every word and act would be observed.

וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֖wə·yā·šaḇ·tāand liveH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

yâshab: to sit down (specifically as judge), to remain, dwell Conjunctive perfect carrying the force of the preceding imperative. The verb that seats kings and judges here pins a condemned man to one address. The same root, in the narrative past, closes v. 38: he did sit there, many days.

שָׁ֑םšāmthereH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-but do notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

תֵצֵ֥אṯê·ṣêgoH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

yâtsâʼ: to go out The single forbidden act of the covenant Solomon imposes: not conspiracy, not speech, simply going out. It is the same verb that will be used of Benaiah in v. 46, who goes out to kill him.

מִשָּׁ֖םmiš·šāmH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenPreposition-mAdverb

אָ֥נֶה’ā·nehanywhere elseH575

√ ʼân — where?Adverb

ʼân: where? Doubled, “whither and whither.” The terms are absolute: no direction, no errand, no distance is carved out. Ellicott judges the command “in itself a reasonable precaution,” while suspecting it was also a snare.

וָאָֽנָה׃wā·’ā·nāh. . .H575

√ ʼân — where?Conjunctive wawAdverb

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-sent the-king and-he-called for-Shimei, and-he-said to-him: “Build-for-thyself a-house in-Jerusalem, and-thou-shalt-dwell there, and-not shalt-thou-go-out from-there hither-and-thither.”

Where the English smooths the original

בְּֽנֵה־ בְּנֵה (bᵉnêh, Qal imperative of bânâh, H1129) is simply “build.” The English reads it as a housing instruction; the Hebrew uses the kingdom's own signature verb. It is the verb of 2 Samuel 7, where the LORD promises to build David a house, and the verb of the temple Solomon is about to raise. Shimei's first royal order is to build, and the thing he builds will hold him.
בַ֙יִת֙ בַּיִת (bayith, H1004) is glossed by Strong's as “a house in the greatest variation of applications, especially family.” BSB's “a house for yourself” cannot carry the second sense: in this chapter a bayith is also a dynasty. Shimei is granted a house of stone on the condition that he never leave it, in the city where another man's house is being made sure forever (v. 45).
וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֖ וְיָשַׁבְתָּ (wᵉyāšaḇtā, conjunctive perfect of yâshab, H3427) is “and thou shalt sit / remain / dwell.” Strong's notes the specific force “to sit down, specifically as judge.” English “live there” sounds like residence; the Hebrew is a sentence of fixed position, and the same verb reports Shimei's compliance in v. 38.
אָ֥נֶה וָאָֽנָה אָנֶה וָאָנָה (ʼāneh wā-ʼānāh, H575 twice) is a doubled adverb, literally “whither and whither,” that is, hither and thither. BSB's “anywhere else” is accurate in sense but flattens a deliberately total, almost sing-song formula. K&D print the Hebrew (ואנה אנה); the Pulpit renders it “hither and thither. Weder dahin noch dorthin.” The phrase leaves no direction unclosed, which is why Shimei's westward road to Gath is no loophole.
וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח וַיִּקְרָ֣א Two verbs, וַיִּשְׁלַח (šâlach, H7971, to send) and וַיִּקְרָא (qârâʼ, H7121, to call out to), are compressed into the single English “summoned.” The pair returns verbatim in v. 42, so that the same royal gesture opens the reprieve and opens the sentence.

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.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·hā·yāh bə·yō·wm ṣê·ṯə·ḵā wə·‘ā·ḇar·tā ’eṯ- qiḏ·rō·wn na·ḥal yā·ḏō·a‘ tê·ḏa‘ kî mō·wṯ tā·mūṯ dā·mə·ḵā yih·yeh ḇə·rō·še·ḵā

Word by word15 · parsed

וְהָיָ֣ה׀wə·hā·yāhH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

בְּי֣וֹםbə·yō·wmOn the dayH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular

yôwm: a day “On the day of thy going out.” The sentence is not eventual but same-day, matching the construction it borrows from Genesis 2:17.

צֵאתְךָ֗ṣê·ṯə·ḵāyou go outH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalInfinitive constructsecond person masculine singular

וְעָֽבַרְתָּ֙wə·‘ā·ḇar·tāand crossH5674

√ ʻâbar — to cross overConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

ʻâbar: to cross over The crossing verb of Israel's story. David crossed this wady weeping and barefoot while Shimei walked the ridge cursing him (2 Samuel 15:23; 16:5-13). Solomon chooses the one landmark that is also a memory.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

קִדְר֔וֹןqiḏ·rō·wnthe KidronH6939

√ Qidrôwn — Kidron, a brook near JerusalemNounproperfeminine singular

Kidron: named, Barnes explains, because Shimei's old home at Bahurim lay east of Jerusalem toward Jericho “and could only be reached by crossing the Kedron valley.” Benson, Poole and Cambridge all stress that the eastern brook is cited as a measure of distance in every direction, not as an exclusive gate; Gath lay west, and Shimei never touched the Kidron at all.

נַ֣חַלna·ḥalValleyH5158

√ nachal — a stream, especially a winter torrentNounmasculine singular construct

nachal: a stream, especially a winter torrent Construct with Kidron. A wadi is dry most of the year: the boundary that kills is invisible nine months out of twelve.

יָדֹ֥עַyā·ḏō·a‘know for sureH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

yâdaʻ: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing) Infinitive absolute. Solomon does not merely inform Shimei; he loads him with knowledge, so that the later charge in v. 44 (“thou knowest”) can rest on the same root. Ignorance is legislated out of the case before the case exists.

תֵּדַ֖עtê·ḏa‘. . .H3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

כִּ֣יkîthatH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

מ֣וֹתmō·wṯyou will dieH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

mûwth: to die Infinitive absolute plus imperfect: the death formula of Genesis 2:17, of Abimelech's warning (Genesis 20:7), and of the capital statutes. It is the grammar of a covenant sanction, and it is being spoken by a king, in the LORD's name (v. 42), over one boundary and one man.

תָּמ֑וּתtā·mūṯ. . .H4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

דָּמְךָ֖dā·mə·ḵāyour bloodH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

dâm: blood (as that which when shed causes death) Construct with the suffix: “thy blood.” In Hebrew law blood is not merely fluid but liability; the question the formula settles is whose account the death is charged to.

יִהְיֶ֥הyih·yehwill beH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

בְרֹאשֶֽׁךָ׃ḇə·rō·še·ḵāon your own headH7218

√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

rôʼsh: the head The place where guilt settles. The Pulpit sends the reader to Leviticus 20:9 and “especially Joshua 2:19,” where Rahab's oath likewise turns on a threshold and on going out. The same phrase will be turned against Shimei in v. 44, with the LORD as the one who returns it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-it-shall-be on-the-day of-thy-going-out, when-thou-hast-crossed-over the-torrent-bed-of-Kidron, knowing thou-shalt-know that dying thou-shalt-die. Thy-blood shall-be on-thy-head.”

Where the English smooths the original

יָדֹ֥עַ תֵּדַ֖ע יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע (yāḏōaʻ têḏaʻ, H3045) is an infinitive absolute reinforcing a finite imperfect: “to know, thou shalt know.” BSB's “know for sure” is the sense; the Pulpit gives the shape: “The Hebrew is, if possible, still more striking and emphatic, ‘To know thou shalt know that to die thou shalt die.’” Cambridge adds that the imperfect here functions as an imperative: “Know for certain.”
מ֣וֹת תָּמ֑וּת מוֹת תָּמוּת (môwṯ tāmûṯ, H4191) is the identical doubled construction, and it is the exact formula of Genesis 2:17. English “you will die” reports a fact; the Hebrew pronounces a sentence, and pronounces it in the oldest words in Scripture for a boundary that carries death on the day it is crossed.
נַ֣חַל נַחַל (nachal, H5158) is not a valley but “a stream, especially a winter torrent.” The Pulpit is exact: “lit., watercourse, wady. The Kidron is quite dry, except during and for a short time after the winter rains.” BSB's “Kidron Valley” hides that the line of life and death is a dry ditch, crossable on foot without noticing.
וְעָֽבַרְתָּ֙ וְעָבַרְתָּ (wᵉʻāḇartā, ʻâbar, H5674) is “and thou hast crossed over,” the standing verb for crossing Jordan into the land and for David's own crossing of this very wady in flight from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:23), the flight on which Shimei cursed him. English “cross” is right but mute; the Hebrew names the road of David's humiliation as the line Shimei may not touch.
דָּמְךָ֖ דָּמְךָ (dāmᵉḵā, dâm, H1818, “blood as that which when shed causes death”) with בְרֹאשֶׁךָ (rôʼsh, H7218) forms a legal formula, not a curse. Benson: “The blame and guilt of thy blood shall lie upon thyself only.” The idiom transfers liability in advance, which is precisely what makes v. 44 possible.

“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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

had·dā·ḇār ṭō·wḇ šim·‘î way·yō·mer lam·me·leḵ ‘aḇ·de·ḵā ya·‘ă·śeh ka·’ă·šer ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ kên dib·ber šim·‘î way·yê·šeḇ bî·rū·šā·lim rab·bîm yā·mîm

Word by word17 · parsed

הַדָּבָ֔רhad·dā·ḇārThe sentenceH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordArticleNounmasculine singular

dâbâr: a word With the article: the king's stated terms. The same noun returns in v. 42 on Solomon's lips, quoting Shimei back to himself, so that the trial is decided out of the defendant's own mouth.

ט֣וֹבṭō·wḇis fairH2896

√ ṭôwb — good (as an adjective) in the widest senseAdjectivemasculine singular

ṭôwb: good in the widest sense Shimei's verdict on the sentence. Its force is legal as well as emotional: by pronouncing the terms good he forecloses any later plea that they were unjust or unclear.

שִׁמְעִ֤יšim·‘îShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·merrepliedH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

לַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙lam·me·leḵH4428

√ melek — a kingPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ‘aḇ·de·ḵāYour servantH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

ʻebed: a servant Court idiom, but also the hinge of the plot. The word appears five times in this unit, and every other occurrence is the two slaves whose flight destroys him.

יַעֲשֶׂ֣הya·‘ă·śehwill doH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

כַּאֲשֶׁ֤רka·’ă·šerasH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPreposition-kPronounrelative

אֲדֹנִ֣י’ă·ḏō·nîmy lordH113

√ ʼâdôwn — sovereign, iNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular

הַמֶּ֔לֶךְham·me·leḵthe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

כֵּ֖ןkên. . .H3651

√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb

דִּבֶּר֙dib·berhas spokenH1696

√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeVerbPielPerfectthird person masculine singular

dâbar: to speak (Piel) Piel perfect, intensive: the king has spoken definitively. Shimei's whole answer is built on the verb, and so is Solomon's indictment.

שִׁמְעִ֛יšim·‘îAnd ShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֵּ֧שֶׁבway·yê·šeḇlivedH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

yâshab: to sit, remain, dwell The narrative fulfilment of the command in v. 36. For three years the sentence is simply a life, quietly lived.

בִּירוּשָׁלִַ֖םbî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

רַבִּֽים׃סrab·bîmfor a longH7227

√ rab — abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality)Adjectivemasculine plural

rab: abundant (in quantity, size, age, number) With yāmîm: many days. The vagueness is the point; the next verse will make it three years, and the LXX has already pulled that number back into this clause.

יָמִ֥יםyā·mîmtimeH3117

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Shimei said to-the-king: “Good is-the-word. As-hath-spoken my-lord the-king, so will-do thy-servant.” And-Shimei dwelt in-Jerusalem days many.

Where the English smooths the original

הַדָּבָ֔ר הַדָּבָר (had-dāḇār, H1697) is “the word / the matter,” not “the sentence.” The Pulpit: “The saying [or thing, matter, דָּבָר, like λόγος, ῤῆμα, in Greek ... means (1) word and (2) deed] is good.” BSB's “The sentence is fair” imports a verdict; Shimei is calling the king's word good, which is why breaking it is not merely disobedience but the falsifying of his own assessment.
ט֣וֹב טוֹב (ṭôwḇ, H2896, “good in the widest sense”) is the plainest word of approval in Hebrew. Benson hears relief in it: “Thy sentence is much more merciful than I expected or deserve.” English “fair” narrows a word that covers good, pleasant, agreeable and acceptable.
עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ עַבְדֶּךָ (ʻaḇdeḵā, ʻebed, H5650) is “thy servant / thy slave.” The English keeps the courtly sense, but the narrator has chosen the very noun that will name the two runaway slaves of v. 39. Shimei calls himself the king's ʻebed, then loses his life chasing his own.
רַבִּֽים יָמִ֥ים יָמִים רַבִּים (yāmîm rabbîm, H3117 + H7227) is “many days,” an indefinite formula. Cambridge records that “The LXX. has τρία ἔτη, three years, a reading evidently drawn from the next verse.” BSB's “for a long time” is the Hebrew; the Greek has quietly harmonised.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

but chronology makes it most unlikely that the same person should here be referred to. The name may have been hereditary.

source ↗

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Thus God appoints the ways and means to bring his just judgments on the wicked.

The Geneva gloss states the providential reading in its hardest Reformed form; the narrative itself says only that two slaves ran and someone told.

source ↗

Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

“By seeking his servants,” says Bishop Hall, “he lost himself. These earthly things either are, or should be, our servants. How commonly do we see men run out of the bounds set by God’s laws, to hunt after them, till their souls incur a fearful judgment!”

Benson is quoting Bishop Joseph Hall, not speaking in his own voice.

source ↗

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.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

miq·qêṣ šā·lōš šā·nîm way·hî šə·nê- lə·šim·‘î ‘ă·ḇā·ḏîm way·yiḇ·rə·ḥū ’el- ’ā·ḵîš ben- ma·‘ă·ḵāh me·leḵ gaṯ lə·šim·‘î lê·mōr way·yag·gî·ḏū hin·nêh ‘ă·ḇā·ḏe·ḵā bə·ḡaṯ

Word by word20 · parsed

מִקֵּץ֙miq·qêṣAfterH7093

√ qêts — an extremityPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

qêts: an extremity “At the end of three years.” The phrase marks a full, finished term, and Gill reads the three years as the measure of how long the man kept faith.

שָׁלֹ֣שׁšā·lōšthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumberfeminine singular

שָׁנִ֔יםšā·nîmyearsH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine plural

וַיְהִ֗יway·hîhoweverH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

שְׁנֵֽי־šə·nê-twoH8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoNumbermasculine dual construct

לְשִׁמְעִ֔יlə·šim·‘îof Shimei’sH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

עֲבָדִים֙‘ă·ḇā·ḏîmslavesH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural

ʻebed: a servant, slave Gill imagines the household from which they fled: a man “always cursing or beating them, or imposing too hard service upon them.” That is inference, not text, but the text does place a curser at the centre of the story.

וַיִּבְרְח֤וּway·yiḇ·rə·ḥūran awayH1272

√ bârach — to bolt, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

bârach: to bolt, flee suddenly The verb of sudden escape. Its most famous subject in the Former Prophets is David, who fled from Saul to Achish king of Gath (1 Samuel 21:10). The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes; see the thread on Gath below.

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

אָכִ֥ישׁ’ā·ḵîšAchishH397

√ ʼĂkîysh — Akish, a Philistine kingNounpropermasculine singular

ʼĂkîysh: Achish, a Philistine king A rare name (twenty verses in the whole Hebrew Bible). Whether this is David's old protector or a descendant is disputed in the apparatus: Ellicott says chronology makes identity “most unlikely” and suggests a hereditary name; Cambridge compares Hannibal son of Hamilcar; the Pulpit thinks a fifty-year reign is not impossible; Barnes prefers a grandson.

בֶּֽן־ben-sonH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct

מַעֲכָ֖הma·‘ă·ḵāhof MaacahH4601

√ Maʻăkâh — Maakah (or Maakath), the name of a place in Syria, also of a Mesopotamian, of three Israelites, and of four Israelitesses and one Syrian womanNounpropermasculine singular

מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵkingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

גַּ֑תgaṯof GathH1661

√ Gath — Gath, a Philistine cityNounproperfeminine singular

Gath: a Philistine city Of all the towns in the world, the runaways choose the one that is David's refuge, Goliath's home, and a standing byword for the enemy camp. Gill notes that Gath was at this point tributary and at peace, which is why the extradition succeeds.

לְשִׁמְעִי֙lə·šim·‘îAnd ShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

לֵאמֹ֔רlê·mōr. . .H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

וַיַּגִּ֤ידוּway·yag·gî·ḏūwas toldH5046

√ nâgad — properly, to front, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

הִנֵּ֥הhin·nêhLookH2009

√ hinnêh — lo!Interjection

hinnêh: lo! The hinge of the whole unit. Everything before it is a kept oath; everything after it is a man moving.

עֲבָדֶ֖יךָ‘ă·ḇā·ḏe·ḵāyour slavesH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

בְּגַֽת׃bə·ḡaṯare in GathH1661

√ Gath — Gath, a Philistine cityPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-came-to-pass at-the-end of-three years, and-there-fled two slaves of-Shimei unto-Achish son-of-Maacah king-of-Gath. And-they-told to-Shimei, saying: “Behold, thy-slaves are-in-Gath.”

Where the English smooths the original

מִקֵּץ֙ מִקֵּץ (miq-qêṣ, qêts, H7093) is “from the extremity / at the end of,” the standard marker of a closed period (Genesis 41:1; Deuteronomy 15:1). BSB's “After three years, however” is smooth narration; the Hebrew stamps a term as completed, as though the probation had run its full course before the fall.
וַיִּבְרְח֤וּ וַיִּבְרְחוּ (wayyiḇrᵉḥū, bârach, H1272) is “and they bolted,” Strong's “to bolt, i.e. flee suddenly.” English “ran away” is domestic; the Hebrew verb is the one used of David's own flight to this very Achish at this very Gath (1 Samuel 21:10). The slaves of the man who cursed the fugitive David flee by David's road.
עֲבָדִים֙ עֲבָדִים (ʻăḇāḏîm, H5650) is the plural of the same noun Shimei applied to himself in v. 38. BSB's “slaves” here and “servant” there is defensible English and invisible Hebrew: the narrator is holding one word up twice.
הִנֵּ֥ה הִנֵּה (hinnêh, H2009) is the presentational interjection, “lo!” BSB's “Look” is right in register but light in function: hinnêh puts the hearer in front of a fact, and this is the fact that will kill him. Cambridge notes the informers are unnamed: “Some persons who had come to know of the whereabouts of the servants.”

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

His covetous mind moved him to risk his life, rather than to lose the worldly profit he had by his servants.

source ↗

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

partly, because God withdrew from him the light of common prudence, and wholly left him to his own mistakes, and folly, and lusts

Poole offers this as the last of several partial explanations, not as a claim that the text states divine hardening.

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The text rather suggests the idea that both the going and the return were perfectly open and undisguised

Directly against Matthew Henry's guess that Shimei moved by stealth; the Pulpit reads the openness of the journey as evidence he thought the errand defensible.

source ↗

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yā·qām šim·‘î way·ya·ḥă·ḇōš ’eṯ- ḥă·mō·rōw way·yê·leḵ ’el- ’ā·ḵîš ga·ṯāh lə·ḇaq·qêš ’eṯ- ‘ă·ḇā·ḏāw šim·‘î way·yê·leḵ ‘ă·ḇā·ḏāw way·yā·ḇê ’eṯ- mig·gaṯ

Word by word18 · parsed

וַיָּ֣קָםway·yā·qāmH6965

√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

qûwm: to rise Untranslated in BSB. In Hebrew narrative “he arose and ...” marks decisive, purposeful action. It is the exact reversal of the posture his sentence imposed.

שִׁמְעִ֗יšim·‘îSo ShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַֽיַּחֲבֹשׁ֙way·ya·ḥă·ḇōšsaddledH2280

√ châbash — to wrap firmly (especially a turban, compress, or saddle)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

châbash: to wrap firmly (a turban, compress, or saddle) The verb of binding. Matthew Henry, cited by the Pulpit, thought Shimei saddled the beast himself for secrecy; the Pulpit disagrees, reading the whole journey as “perfectly open and undisguised.”

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

חֲמֹר֔וֹḥă·mō·rōwhis donkeyH2543

√ chămôwr — a male ass (from its dun red)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וַיֵּ֤לֶךְway·yê·leḵand set outH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

אָכִ֔ישׁ’ā·ḵîšAchishH397

√ ʼĂkîysh — Akish, a Philistine kingNounpropermasculine singular

גַּ֙תָה֙ga·ṯāhat GathH1661

√ Gath — Gath, a Philistine cityNounproperfeminine singularthird person feminine singular

לְבַקֵּ֖שׁlə·ḇaq·qêšin search ofH1245

√ bâqash — to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer)Preposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

bâqash: to search out, specifically in worship or prayer (Piel) The theological weight of the verse sits here. Biqqêš is what a man does toward God (Deuteronomy 4:29; Hosea 5:15); Shimei spends it on two slaves and a foreign city, and forfeits the oath he swore by the LORD to do it. Poole adds a darker reading: “God withdrew from him the light of common prudence.”

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

עֲבָדָ֑יו‘ă·ḇā·ḏāwhis slavesH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

ʻebed: a servant, slave Third occurrence of the noun in three verses. The unit is structured on a man who was a servant enjoying a king's clemency and who died recovering servants of his own.

שִׁמְעִ֔יšim·‘îH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֵּ֣לֶךְway·yê·leḵH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

עֲבָדָ֖יו‘ă·ḇā·ḏāwand he brought themH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

וַיָּבֵ֥אway·yā·ḇêbackH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

bôwʼ: to go or come (Hifil: to bring) He does bring them back. The errand succeeds completely, which is what makes the following verses a tragedy rather than a farce.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

מִגַּֽת׃mig·gaṯfrom GathH1661

√ Gath — Gath, a Philistine cityPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Shimei arose and-saddled his-donkey, and-went unto-Achish at-Gath to-seek his-slaves. And-Shimei went, and-brought his-slaves from-Gath.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיָּ֣קָם וַיָּקָם (wayyāqām, qûwm, H6965, “to rise”) opens the verse and disappears entirely from BSB's “So Shimei saddled his donkey.” The Hebrew has him rise first: the narrative verb of setting out on a purpose. The man who was sentenced to sit (v. 36) rises.
וַֽיַּחֲבֹשׁ֙ וַיַּחֲבֹשׁ (wayyaḥăḇōš, châbash, H2280) is “and he bound / wrapped firmly,” Strong's “to wrap firmly (especially a turban, compress, or saddle).” “Saddled” is correct and colourless; the root elsewhere binds up wounds. The Pulpit warns the idiom need not mean he did it with his own hands: “Qui facit per alium, facit per se.”
לְבַקֵּ֖שׁ לְבַקֵּשׁ (lᵉḇaqqêš, bâqash, H1245, Piel infinitive construct) is “to seek,” and Strong's records its specialised use: “to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer).” BSB's “in search of his slaves” is exact; the Hebrew word is the one Israel uses for seeking the LORD. Geneva puts the indictment plainly: “His covetous mind moved him to risk his life.”
וַיָּבֵ֥א וַיָּבֵא (wayyāḇê, bôwʼ, H935, Hifil) is “and he caused to come / brought in.” The verse ends with Shimei successfully recovering his property. The English “brought them back from Gath” is right, and the irony is entirely in the Hebrew's flat success: he wins the case and loses the life.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

liš·lō·mōh way·yug·gaḏ kî- šim·‘î hā·laḵ mî·rū·šā·lim gaṯ way·yā·šōḇ

Word by word8 · parsed

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֑הliš·lō·mōhWhen SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֻּגַּ֖דway·yug·gaḏwas toldH5046

√ nâgad — properly, to front, iConjunctive wawVerbHofalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

nâgad: properly, to front, to declare (Hofal) An impersonal passive: no informer is named, which is exactly how surveillance reads from the inside. Poole assumes spies; the text says only that the thing reached the king.

כִּי־kî-thatH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

שִׁמְעִ֧יšim·‘îShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

הָלַ֨ךְhā·laḵhad goneH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

hâlak: to walk Perfect, reporting a completed act. The charge is not treason, conspiracy or contact with a foreign court; it is walking.

מִירוּשָׁלִַ֛םmî·rū·šā·limfrom JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

גַּ֖תgaṯto GathH1661

√ Gath — Gath, a Philistine cityNounproperfeminine singular

וַיָּשֹֽׁב׃way·yā·šōḇand had returnedH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

shûwb: to turn back, return Consecutive imperfect. The narrator lets Shimei come home safe before the king speaks, and then uses the same root against him in v. 44 (Hifil, “shall return thy evil”). The man's own return is the return of his guilt; this is the tightest verbal knot in the unit, and it is invisible in English.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-was-told to-Solomon that Shimei had-gone from-Jerusalem to-Gath, and-had-returned.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיֻּגַּ֖ד וַיֻּגַּד (wayyuggaḏ, nâgad, H5046) is Hofal, a double-causative passive: “and it was caused to be told.” In v. 39 the same root was Hifil and active, “and they told Shimei.” BSB gives “When Solomon was told,” which is right but loses the symmetry: the same machinery of report that saved the slaves destroys the master. Poole supplies the mechanism: Solomon “doubtless had his spies.”
הָלַ֨ךְ הָלַךְ (hālaḵ, H1980, perfect) is the flat verb “walked, went.” The indictment as reported to the king needs no colour: he went, from Jerusalem, to Gath. The forbidden act was never dramatic.
וַיָּשֹֽׁב וַיָּשֹׁב (wayyāšōḇ, shûwb, H7725) is “and he returned.” This is the pivot word of the unit: the identical root reappears in v. 44 in the Hifil, where the LORD “returns” Shimei's evil on his head. Shimei's own return to Jerusalem is the act by which his evil returns to him. English uses two different words (“returned,” “bring back”) and the pun vanishes.
מִירוּשָׁלִַ֛ם גַּ֖ת The report is framed by two place names in bare opposition, מִירוּשָׁלִַם (from Jerusalem) and גַּת (Gath), with no verb of crossing between them. The Kidron is never mentioned. Gill measures the offence: Gath was “thirty four miles from Jerusalem,” where his bounds were “about half a mile.”

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.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ way·yiš·laḥ way·yiq·rā lə·šim·‘î way·yō·mer ’ê·lāw hă·lō·w hiš·ba‘·tî·ḵā Yah·weh wā·’ā·‘iḏ bə·ḵā lê·mōr bə·yō·wm ṣê·ṯə·ḵā wə·hā·laḵ·tā ’ā·neh wā·’ā·nāh yā·ḏō·a‘ tê·ḏa‘ kî mō·wṯ tā·mūṯ wat·tō·mer ’ê·lay had·dā·ḇār ṭō·wḇ šā·mā·‘ə·tî

Word by word27 · parsed

הַמֶּ֜לֶךְham·me·leḵthe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וַיִּשְׁלַ֨חway·yiš·laḥsummonedH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיִּקְרָ֣אway·yiq·rā. . .H7121

√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

לְשִׁמְעִ֗יlə·šim·‘îShimeiH8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·merand saidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֵלָ֜יו’ê·lāwto himH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionthird person masculine singular

הֲל֧וֹאhă·lō·wDid I notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

הִשְׁבַּעְתִּ֣יךָhiš·ba‘·tî·ḵāmake you swearH7650

√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iVerbHifilPerfectfirst person common singularsecond person masculine singular

shâbaʻ: to swear (Hifil: to cause to swear) Hifil perfect with second-person suffix: Solomon administered the oath, Shimei took it. The oath itself is nowhere reported in vv. 36-38; Barnes and Cambridge both note that the Septuagint supplies it at v. 37, and the Pulpit judges that supplement “obviously a gloss.” The Hebrew's method is to let a fact surface only when it is needed as evidence.

בַֽיהוָ֗הYah·wehby the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular

Yᵉhôvâh: the divine name The oath was sworn by the Name. From here the case is no longer a matter of royal policy; it is a case of perjury before God, which is exactly how Solomon frames it in v. 43.

וָאָעִ֤דwā·’ā·‘iḏand warnH5749

√ ʻûwd — to duplicate or repeatConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular

ʻûwd: to duplicate, repeat; (Hifil) to bear witness, take to record A weighty, solemn verb. It is the verb of Deuteronomy 4:26 and 30:19, where heaven and earth are summoned as standing witnesses to a covenant of life and death set before a man. Solomon's use is deliberate: the terms he gave Shimei were witnessed terms, and the choice offered was the same choice, life or death, at a named boundary.

בְּךָ֙bə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

לֵאמֹ֔רlê·mōrH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

בְּי֣וֹםbə·yō·wmOn the dayH3117

צֵאתְךָ֗ṣê·ṯə·ḵāyou leaveH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalInfinitive constructsecond person masculine singular

וְהָֽלַכְתָּ֙wə·hā·laḵ·tāand goH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

אָ֣נֶה’ā·nehelsewhereH575

√ ʼân — where?Adverb

וָאָ֔נָהwā·’ā·nāh. . .H575

√ ʼân — where?Conjunctive wawAdverb

יָדֹ֥עַyā·ḏō·a‘know for sureH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

yâdaʻ: to know (infinitive absolute) Quoted verbatim from v. 37. Solomon's indictment is textual: he repeats his own words rather than summarising them, so that the sentence is measured against the exact warning.

תֵּדַ֖עtê·ḏa‘. . .H3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

כִּ֣יkîthatH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

מ֣וֹתmō·wṯyou will dieH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

mûwth: to die (infinitive absolute) The Genesis formula again, now in the mouth of the judge rather than the lawgiver. Nothing has been added to the sentence; the only new fact in the courtroom is that a man went out.

תָּמ֑וּתtā·mūṯ. . .H4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

וַתֹּ֧אמֶרwat·tō·merAnd you toldH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectsecond person masculine singular

אֵלַ֛י’ê·laymeH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionfirst person common singular

הַדָּבָ֖רhad·dā·ḇārThe sentenceH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordArticleNounmasculine singular

dâbâr: a word Solomon quotes Shimei's own verdict of v. 38 back at him. The defendant is convicted on his own approval of the law he broke.

ט֥וֹבṭō·wḇis fairH2896

√ ṭôwb — good (as an adjective) in the widest senseAdjectivemasculine singular

שָׁמָֽעְתִּי׃šā·mā·‘ə·tîI will complyH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular

shâmaʻ: to hear intelligently, with implication of attention and obedience Perfect: “I have heard.” In Hebrew the verb is a single act covering hearing and doing; that is why Gill can say the offence was aggravated, since Shimei “not only promised to obey it, and that with an oath, but declared it was agreeable.”

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-king sent and-called for-Shimei and-said to-him: “Did-I-not make-thee-swear by-YHWH, and-testify-against-thee, saying, ‘On-the-day of-thy-going-out and-thou-hast-gone hither-and-thither, knowing thou-shalt-know that dying thou-shalt-die’? And-thou-saidst to-me: ‘Good is-the-word; I-have-heard.’”

Where the English smooths the original

הִשְׁבַּעְתִּ֣יךָ הִשְׁבַּעְתִּיךָ (hišbaʻtîḵā, shâbaʻ, H7650, Hifil perfect with suffix) is causative: “I caused thee to swear.” Strong's derivation is “to seven oneself,” that is, to bind by the sacred number. BSB's “make you swear” is right; what the English cannot show is that this oath was never narrated. Cambridge: “There is no mention of an oath in the previous part of the narrative.”
וָאָעִ֤ד בְּךָ֙ וָאָעִד בְּךָ (wā-ʼāʻiḏ bᵉḵā, ʻûwd, H5749, Hifil) is “and I took witness against thee,” Strong's root sense “to duplicate or repeat,” hence to bear solemn, repeated testimony. BSB's “warn you” is flat. This is the courtroom verb of Deuteronomy 30:19 and 4:26, where heaven and earth are called to record. Solomon is claiming, not merely that he told Shimei, but that he put the matter on the record before God.
שָׁמָֽעְתִּי שָׁמָעְתִּי (šāmāʻtî, shâmaʻ, H8085, Qal perfect, first person) is “I have heard,” and Strong's is explicit that the verb carries “implication of attention, obedience.” BSB renders it as a promise, “I will comply”; the Hebrew is a completed act of hearing that already includes obeying. The Pulpit notes the punctuation problem (“Good is the word. I have heard”) and that the Vatican LXX omits the clause entirely.
בַֽיהוָ֗ה בַּיהוָה (ba-YHWH, H3068) makes the oath an oath by the divine name. English “by the LORD” is the convention; the force is that Shimei's offence is now not only against a king but against the Name, which the Pulpit connects to Leviticus 19:12, “profaned the name of his God.”

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·mad·dū·a‘ lō šā·mar·tā ’êṯ šə·ḇu·‘aṯ Yah·weh wə·’eṯ- ham·miṣ·wāh ’ă·šer- ṣiw·wî·ṯî ‘ā·le·ḵā

Word by word11 · parsed

וּמַדּ֕וּעַū·mad·dū·a‘So whyH4069

√ maddûwaʻ — what (is) known?Conjunctive wawInterrogative

maddûwaʻ: what is known? hence, why? Strong's derives the interrogative from the root “to know,” which is the root Solomon has already hammered in v. 37 and v. 42. The question is not a request for information; it is the formal demand that a warned man account for himself.

לֹ֣אlōhave you notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

שָׁמַ֔רְתָּšā·mar·tākeptH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

shâmar: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), to guard, keep Qal perfect. The verb of Torah obedience (Deuteronomy 6:17) and of the watchman. Its image is a hedge: Shimei was given a hedge, a city with a line around it, and told to keep it.

אֵ֖ת’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

שְׁבֻעַ֣תšə·ḇu·‘aṯyour oathH7621

√ shᵉbûwʻâh — properly, something sworn, iNounfeminine singular construct

shᵉbûwʻâh: properly, something sworn, an oath Construct with the divine name. Benson names the consequence: “He lay under the guilt of two crimes,” disobedience to a king and perjury before God, “which latter Solomon terms the oath of the Lord.” Gill puts the legal result in one word: perjury.

יְהוָ֑הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-andH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

הַמִּצְוָ֖הham·miṣ·wāhthe commandH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)ArticleNounfeminine singular

mitsvâh: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law) The second count of the indictment. Solomon deliberately keeps the two counts separate, the vertical and the horizontal, and both must be answered before the sentence in v. 44 can be spoken.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-thatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

צִוִּ֥יתִיṣiw·wî·ṯîI gave youH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinVerbPielPerfectfirst person common singular

tsâvâh: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin (Piel) Piel perfect, first person: the act of charging. It is the same verb used in v. 46 when Solomon commands Benaiah, so that the word which bound Shimei's feet is the word which looses the executioner's.

עָלֶֽיךָ׃‘ā·le·ḵā. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-why hast-thou-not kept the-oath of-YHWH, and-the-commandment which I-charged upon-thee?”

Where the English smooths the original

שָׁמַ֔רְתָּ שָׁמַרְתָּ (šāmartā, shâmar, H8104) is Strong's “properly, to hedge about (as with thorns),” hence to guard, watch, keep. BSB's “kept your oath” is idiomatic English for a promise; the Hebrew verb is the same one used for keeping the commandments of the LORD and keeping watch over a charge. Shimei's failure is described with the vocabulary of covenant-keeping, not of contract.
שְׁבֻעַ֣ת יְהוָ֑ה שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (šᵉḇuʻaṯ YHWH, H7621 + H3068) is a construct chain, “the oath of YHWH,” and the apparatus disputes its direction. Cambridge: “i.e. Which was sworn unto the Lord.” Poole and Benson explain the genitive as reference to the witness rather than the recipient: it is so called “because it was taken in God's presence, and he was called upon as a witness of it, and as the avenger of all violations of it.” BSB's “your oath to the LORD” picks one of these and silently closes the question.
הַמִּצְוָ֖ה הַמִּצְוָה (ham-miṣwāh, H4687) is glossed by Strong's as “a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law).” BSB's “the command that I gave you” is accurate, but the noun is the technical term for a precept of Torah. Solomon is arraigning Shimei under a royal order phrased in the grammar of the Law, which is exactly how Benson reads the double charge.
צִוִּ֥יתִי עָלֶֽיךָ צִוִּיתִי עָלֶיךָ (ṣiwwîṯî ʻāleḵā, tsâvâh, H6680, Piel, with H5921 ʻal) is literally “I commanded upon thee,” not merely “gave you.” The preposition puts the charge on the man as a weight, the same preposition used of blood resting on a head in v. 37 and v. 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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ ’el- šim·‘î way·yō·mer ’at·tāh yā·ḏa‘·tā lə·ḇā·ḇə·ḵā ’ă·šer ’êṯ kāl- hā·rā·‘āh ’ă·šer yā·ḏa‘ ‘ā·śî·ṯā ’ā·ḇî lə·ḏā·wiḏ Yah·weh ’eṯ- wə·hê·šîḇ rā·‘ā·ṯə·ḵā bə·rō·še·ḵā

Word by word21 · parsed

הַמֶּ֜לֶךְham·me·leḵThe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

אֶל־’el-. . .H413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

שִׁמְעִ֗יšim·‘î. . .H8096

√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·meralso saidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אַתָּ֤ה’at·tāhYouH859

√ ʼattâh — thou and thee, or (plural) ye and youPronounsecond person masculine singular

ʼattâh: thou Emphatic independent pronoun, redundant grammatically and decisive rhetorically. Cambridge: “It was needless for Solomon to recall the wrong with which Shimei's own conscience would upbraid him.”

יָדַ֙עְתָּ֙yā·ḏa‘·tāknowH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

yâdaʻ: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing) The unit's spine. Shimei was made to know the sentence (v. 37), had it read back to him (v. 42), and is now told that he knows the crime. Three knowings, and no defence is recorded in the text at any of them.

לְבָ֣בְךָ֔lə·ḇā·ḇə·ḵāin your heartH3824

√ lêbâb — the heart (as the most interior organ)Nounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

lêbâb: the heart, as the most interior organ The heart is the grammatical knower here. Hebrew has no separate word for conscience; lēḇāḇ does that work, and both K&D (“which thy conscience must tell thee”) and Geneva (“your own conscience accuses you for reviling and doing wrong to my father”) render it so.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אֵ֣ת’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָרָעָ֗הhā·rā·‘āhthe evilH7451

√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)ArticleAdjectivefeminine singular

raʻ: bad or (as noun) evil, natural or moral With the article: the definite, known evil, which the narrative never restates. It is the cursing of the LORD's anointed at Bahurim (2 Samuel 16:5-13), which K&D identify as the capital offence actually being punished.

אֲשֶׁ֤ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יָדַע֙yā·ḏa‘. . .H3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

עָשִׂ֖יתָ‘ā·śî·ṯāyou didH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

אָבִ֑י’ā·ḇîto my fatherH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular

לְדָוִ֣דlə·ḏā·wiḏDavidH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JessePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

יְהוָ֛הYah·wehTherefore the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וְהֵשִׁ֧יבwə·hê·šîḇwill bringH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

shûwb: to turn back, return (Hifil: to bring back) The theological centre of the unit. Shimei's evil is not requited by an equivalent penalty; it is sent home. The moral universe here is not retribution imposed from outside but a boomerang: what a man puts out returns along its own arc, and the king claims to be only the hand that receives it.

רָעָתְךָ֖rā·‘ā·ṯə·ḵāyour evilH7451

√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

בְּרֹאשֶֽׁךָ׃bə·rō·še·ḵāback upon your headH7218

rôʼsh: the head The formula of v. 37 completed. What Solomon predicted as a liability, he now pronounces as an accomplished fact, and he attributes the act to the LORD rather than to himself.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-king said unto-Shimei: “Thou, thou-knowest all the-evil which thy-heart knoweth, which thou-didst to-David my-father. And-YHWH hath-returned thine-evil upon-thy-head.”

Where the English smooths the original

אַתָּ֤ה יָדַ֙עְתָּ֙ אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ (ʼattāh yāḏaʻtā, H859 + H3045). The independent pronoun is unnecessary in Hebrew, since the verb already carries the subject; Cambridge notes it exactly: “The Hebrew inserts the pronoun emphatically.” BSB's “You know” cannot show the stress. The emphasis closes the last escape: no witness is called because the defendant is the witness.
לְבָ֣בְךָ֔ לְבָבְךָ (lᵉḇāḇᵉḵā, lêbâb, H3824, “the heart as the most interior organ”) is the subject of its own verb of knowing in the Hebrew: the evil “which thy heart knoweth.” BSB's “you know in your heart” makes the heart a location; the Hebrew makes it a knower, which is why K&D and Poole both translate it straight into the language of conscience.
הָרָעָ֗ה רָעָתְךָ֖ הָרָעָה and רָעָתְךָ (rāʻāh, H7451) are the same noun twice: “all the evil” Shimei did, and “thy evil” which the LORD returns. English keeps both as “evil,” but the point is the identity, not the repetition: the thing sent out and the thing coming back are one object.
וְהֵשִׁ֧יב וְהֵשִׁיב (wᵉhēšîḇ, Hifil of shûwb, H7725) is “and he has caused to return.” BSB reads it as future, “will bring.” Cambridge refuses that: “The Hebrew says ‘the Lord hath returned.’ The punishment is so sure that the king speaks of it as already inflicted. He is but the Lord's agent.” Poole agrees that the perfect “seems most proper.” It is also the same root as v. 41: Shimei returned, and his evil returns.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Solomon regards the punishments which he has inflicted and is about to inflict, as a fulfilment of the conditions under which the promise was made. His action is the upholding of righteousness in the kingdom.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

the kingdom of Israel, spiritual Israel, for ever in his son the Messiah; and that in the presence of the Lord

Gill reads the clause at two levels at once, the dynastic and the messianic; the first is the sentence's plain reference, the second is a theological extension he shares with Henry.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

It is inconceivable that Solomon could have spoken thus if he had been conscious either of sharp practice, or spite, or cruelty. The words are those of one who is sure that he is doing God service.

An argument from the king's tone to the king's conscience. Ellicott, on v. 36, reaches the opposite conclusion from the same narrative.

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But King Solomon will be blessed and David’s throne will remain secure before the LORD forever.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh bā·rūḵ ḏā·wiḏ wə·ḵis·sê yih·yeh nā·ḵō·wn lip̄·nê Yah·weh ‘aḏ- ‘ō·w·lām

Word by word11 · parsed

וְהַמֶּ֥לֶךְwə·ham·me·leḵBut KingH4428

√ melek — a kingConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹ֖הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

בָּר֑וּךְbā·rūḵwill be blessedH1288

√ bârak — to kneelVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

bârak: to kneel, to bless Qal passive participle. The verse pronounces Solomon blessed in the same breath in which a man is condemned for cursing his father, and the contrast is structural: the curser's evil returns on his own head, the son of the cursed stands blessed.

דָוִ֗דḏā·wiḏand David’sH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular

וְכִסֵּ֣אwə·ḵis·sêthroneH3678

√ kiççêʼ — properly, covered, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

kiççêʼ: a throne (properly, covered) Construct with David: not Solomon's throne but David's, which is the whole claim. Solomon is arguing that the execution serves a dynasty older than himself.

יִהְיֶ֥הyih·yehwill remainH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

נָכ֛וֹןnā·ḵō·wnsecureH3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iVerbNifalParticiplemasculine singular

kûwn: properly, to be erect, to be firmly established (Nifal) The keyword of Nathan's oracle (2 Samuel 7:16). Cambridge draws the line to God's promise and states Solomon's reasoning: the punishments are “a fulfilment of the conditions under which the promise was made. His action is the upholding of righteousness in the kingdom.” K&D concur: the throne stands “because the king does justice.”

לִפְנֵ֥יlip̄·nêbeforeH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct

pânîym: the face (as the part that turns) The throne is secure not because it is well guarded but because it stands in a particular place, facing God. That is the verse's claim, and 1 Kings will spend forty chapters testing it.

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

עַד־‘aḏ-foreverH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

עוֹלָֽם׃‘ō·w·lām. . .H5769

√ ʻôwlâm — properly, concealed, iNounmasculine singular

ʻôwlâm: properly, concealed; hence, time out of mind, forever The horizon word. Gill reads it doubly: the natural line of David for a long time, and “the kingdom of Israel, spiritual Israel, for ever in his son the Messiah.”

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-King Solomon shall-be-blessed, and-the-throne of-David shall-be established before YHWH unto-forever.”

Where the English smooths the original

בָּר֑וּךְ בָּרוּךְ (bārûḵ, H1288) is a Qal passive participle, a state rather than a promise: “blessed is King Solomon.” Strong's root sense is “to kneel,” the posture of blessing and of receiving it. BSB's future “will be blessed” is defensible; the Hebrew is a pronouncement. Set against the unnamed crime of the man standing there, a curser of the LORD's anointed, the choice of this particular word is the verse's quiet argument.
נָכ֛וֹן נָכוֹן (nāḵôn, Nifal participle of kûwn, H3559, “properly, to be erect”) is “standing firm, set up.” BSB's “will remain secure” is a good gloss for a word whose picture is of something made to stand upright and not fall. The same root closes v. 46 in the perfect, of the kingdom in Solomon's hand, so the participle here and the perfect there bracket the execution.
לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה לִפְנֵי יְהוָה (lip̄nê YHWH, H6440 + H3068) is “to the face of YHWH.” English “before the LORD” is right but worn smooth; pānîm is the face. Poole reads it as inspection and reward, “in the presence of that God who is both an observer and rewarder of all such righteous actions; or under God's inspection, and by his blessing.”
עַד־עוֹלָֽם עַד־עוֹלָם (ʻaḏ-ʻôlām, H5704 + H5769) is “unto the vanishing point.” Strong's derives ʻôlām from “properly, concealed,” the time-horizon out of sight. “Forever” is the settled rendering and carries the covenant sense of 2 Samuel 7:16, but the Hebrew word's own image is duration that runs past where anyone can see.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

If Shimei had wished to remain faithful to his oath, he might have informed the king of the flight of his slaves, have entreated the king that they might be brought back, and have awaited the king's decision

K&D's defence rests on an alternative Shimei never attempted: he could have petitioned the king. The text records no such request, which is the strongest point against the excuses offered on Shimei's behalf.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Now, by the death of Shimei, all the leaders of the rival factions had been cut off.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Thus Solomon's throne was established in peace, as the type of the Redeemer's kingdom of peace and righteousness.

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Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- way·ṣaw bə·nā·yā·hū ben- yə·hō·w·yā·ḏā‘ way·yê·ṣê way·yip̄·ga‘- bōw way·yā·mōṯ wə·ham·mam·lā·ḵāh nā·ḵō·w·nāh bə·yaḏ- šə·lō·mōh

Word by word14 · parsed

הַמֶּ֗לֶךְham·me·leḵThen the kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיְצַ֣וway·ṣawcommandedH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

tsâvâh: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin (Piel) The verb of v. 43 reused. Solomon's commanding word is the unit's only real instrument: it made the boundary, it made the charge, and it makes the execution.

בְּנָיָ֙הוּ֙bə·nā·yā·hūBenaiahH1141

√ Bᵉnâyâh — Benajah, the name of twelve IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

בֶּן־ben-sonH1121

יְה֣וֹיָדָ֔עyə·hō·w·yā·ḏā‘of JehoiadaH3077

√ Yᵉhôwyâdâʻ — Jehojada, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֵּצֵ֕אway·yê·ṣêand he went outH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

yâtsâʼ: to go out The exact verb of the prohibition. Benaiah does lawfully and at command what Shimei did unlawfully and on his own errand, and the symmetry is the narrator's last comment on the case.

וַיִּפְגַּע־way·yip̄·ga‘-and struck [Shimei] downH6293

√ pâgaʻ — to impinge, by accident or violence, or (figuratively) by importunityConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

pâgaʻ: to impinge, by accident or violence, or (figuratively) by importunity A strikingly unspecific verb for an execution: it means to meet, to encounter, to fall upon. In the causative stem the same root carries the sense of pressing a case on behalf of another, that is, intercession (Isaiah 53:12). The executioner's verb and the intercessor's verb are one word, which we take up in the christological reading below.

בּ֖וֹbōw. . .

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

וַיָּמֹ֑תway·yā·mōṯand he diedH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

mûwth: to die Consecutive imperfect, three Hebrew words after the command. The death sentence of v. 37 was spoken in the emphatic doubled construction; the death itself gets one plain verb.

וְהַמַּמְלָכָ֥הwə·ham·mam·lā·ḵāhThus the kingdomH4467

√ mamlâkâh — dominion, iConjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine singular

mamlâkâh: dominion, kingdom The unit's last subject is not Solomon but the kingdom. Gill names the cleared field: Adonijah executed, Joab executed, Abiathar deposed, Shimei dispatched. JFB compresses it: “all the leaders of the rival factions had been cut off.”

נָכ֖וֹנָהnā·ḵō·w·nāhwas firmly establishedH3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iVerbNifalPerfectthird person feminine singular

kûwn: to be firmly established (Nifal perfect) The answering half of v. 45's participle. Cambridge compares 2 Chronicles 1:1, where Solomon “was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him,” and notes that the Chronicler omits this whole purge from his account.

בְּיַד־bə·yaḏ-in the handH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

yâd: a hand (the open one, indicating power, means, direction) The kingdom's resting place. The idiom means secure possession, and in context it is also a physical fact: after four removals the power is in one man's grip.

שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃šə·lō·mōhof SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-king commanded Benaiah son-of-Jehoiada, and-he-went-out and-fell-upon-him, and-he-died. And-the-kingdom was-established in-the-hand of-Solomon.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיְצַ֣ו וַיְצַו (wayṣaw, tsâvâh, H6680, Piel) is the same verb Solomon used in v. 43 of the charge he had laid on Shimei. BSB's “commanded” is right in both places, and the English cannot show that one word both bound the man and released the executioner.
וַיֵּצֵ֕א וַיֵּצֵא (wayyêṣê, yâtsâʼ, H3318) is “and he went out,” the precise verb of Shimei's forbidden act in vv. 36, 37 and 42. Cambridge notes the literal form: “and he went out.” Poole and Gill explain it as leaving the royal presence, since the execution “was not fit to be in the king's presence.” The narrator's economy is severe: the sin was going out, and the sentence is carried by a man going out.
וַיִּפְגַּע־בּ֖וֹ וַיִּפְגַּע־בּוֹ (wayyip̄gaʻ-bôw, pâgaʻ, H6293) is “and he impinged on him,” Strong's “to impinge, by accident or violence, or (figuratively) by importunity.” BSB's “struck Shimei down” supplies a weapon the Hebrew does not name. The same colourless verb has already done this work three times in this chapter for Adonijah, Joab and now Shimei, and the same root in its causative means to intercede.
נָכ֖וֹנָה נָכוֹנָה (nāḵônāh, Nifal perfect feminine of kûwn, H3559) answers nāḵôn in v. 45: what was promised of David's throne is now reported of the kingdom. BSB uses “remain secure” there and “firmly established” here; the Hebrew uses one root twice, and the promise and the report are made to rhyme.
בְּיַד־ בְּיַד (bᵉyaḏ, yâd, H3027, “a hand, the open one, indicating power, means, direction”) is “in the hand of Solomon,” and K&D note that the LXX Alexandrinus, the Vulgate and the Syriac attach this clause to chapter 3 rather than to this one. BSB's “in the hand of Solomon” keeps the idiom; what it cannot keep is that the kingdom is now located in the same organ that has just signed three death warrants.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A house built to be a boundary — 36-38

⚙ Solomon's first word to Shimei is בְּנֵה (bᵉnêh, H1129), “build.” It is the kingdom's own verb: the LORD promised to build David a house, and Solomon is about to build the house of the LORD. Here it builds a cage. The terms are a house in Jerusalem, a fixed seat (yâshab, H3427, the root Strong's glosses “to sit down, specifically as judge”), and one prohibition covering every direction, אָנֶה וָאָנָה, which the Pulpit renders “hither and thither” and K&D print in the Hebrew. The apparatus divides sharply on motive. Barnes reads it plainly as keeping Shimei “under the immediate eye of the government.” Benson and Poole, almost word for word, argue it removed him from the Benjamite country “where his kindred, and estates, and interest lay” and set him in a public theatre where every word would be observed. Cambridge is blunter: “Keeping him under close watch, he could hardly fail to find him tripping,” and Gill says outright that Solomon reckoned on human nature, “that what they are forbidden they are the most prone unto.” Against all of them, Ellicott grants the legality and the policy and then refuses the moral verdict: it was, he says, “in some degree intended as a snare,” and “cannot stand examination on the ground of equity or generosity.” The text itself records only that the word was good in Shimei's own judgment (ṭôwḇ, H2896) and that he dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

ii. Three years, two slaves, one road west — 39-41

⚙ The trap, if it is a trap, does not spring for three years. Then two עֲבָדִים (ʻăḇāḏîm, H5650) bolt: bârach (H1272), the same verb, to the same city, to a king of the same name as the Achish to whom David himself fled (1 Samuel 21:10). Shimei answers with three purposeful verbs the English mostly hides: he rose (qûwm, untranslated in BSB), he bound his donkey (châbash), and he went “to seek,” לְבַקֵּשׁ (bâqash, H1245), the verb Strong's notes is used “specifically in worship or prayer.” Geneva names the failure without ornament: “His covetous mind moved him to risk his life.” Poole piles up partial explanations, among them the darkest, that “God withdrew from him the light of common prudence,” and adds to that the instigation of the devil. The Pulpit reads the evidence differently and, we think, more carefully: the journey was “perfectly open and undisguised,” which tells against Matthew Henry's theory of stealth and suggests a man who believed the errand was defensible. Gill measures the breach with a ruler: Gath lay thirty four miles off, his bounds half a mile. Then the report reaches the king in the Hofal, וַיֻּגַּד, an impersonal passive with no informer named. Poole supplies spies. The text supplies only the verb by which Shimei came home: šûḇ, “and he returned.”

iii. The oath of the LORD and the word returned — 42-44

⚙ Solomon sends and calls exactly as in v. 36, and the indictment is built out of quotation. Two facts surface that the narrative had withheld: the terms were sworn בַּיהוָה, by the Name, and they were witnessed, וָאָעִד (ʻûwd, H5749), the solemn taking-to-record of Deuteronomy 4:26 and 30:19. Cambridge and Barnes both observe that no oath was reported earlier and that the Septuagint inserts one at v. 37; the Pulpit calls the insertion “obviously a gloss.” Benson states the double charge cleanly: “He lay under the guilt of two crimes,” disobedience to the king and perjury before God, and Poole explains why the second is named “the oath of the Lord,” since God “was called upon as a witness of it, and as the avenger of all violations of it.” Then v. 44 turns the unit's own vocabulary against the defendant. Shimei returned from Gath (šûḇ, v. 41); the LORD returns his evil upon his head (Hifil of the same root, v. 44). Cambridge notices the tense and will not soften it: “The Hebrew says ‘the Lord hath returned.’ ... He is but the Lord's agent.” K&D ground the death sentence not in the journey but in the old crime it recalls, “blaspheming the anointed of the Lord.”

iv. Blessed, established, and in a hand — 45-46

⚙ The judgment ends in a benediction. Solomon is בָּרוּךְ (bārûḵ, H1288, Qal passive participle) and David's throne נָכוֹן (nâkôn, Nifal of kûwn, H3559) before the LORD forever, which is the vocabulary of Nathan's oracle (2 Samuel 7:16). Cambridge draws the connection and its logic: Solomon “regards the punishments which he has inflicted ... as a fulfilment of the conditions under which the promise was made.” The Pulpit goes further: “It is inconceivable that Solomon could have spoken thus if he had been conscious either of sharp practice, or spite, or cruelty.” Then Benaiah goes out and וַיִּפְגַּע־בּוֹ (pâgaʻ, H6293, “to impinge, by accident or violence”), and the man dies. The last clause repeats the participle of v. 45 in the perfect: the kingdom נָכוֹנָה, established, בְּיַד, in the hand of Solomon. Gill lists the hand's contents: Adonijah, Joab, Abiathar, Shimei. JFB says the same in one line: “all the leaders of the rival factions had been cut off.” K&D record that in the Alexandrian LXX, the Vulgate and the Syriac this clause is attached to chapter 3 instead, so that the establishing of the kingdom opens the reign rather than closing the purge.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested. This unit is built on one grammatical figure used twice: the infinitive absolute doubled with its imperfect. “Knowing thou shalt know” and “dying thou shalt die” are the words of Eden (Genesis 2:17), and Solomon puts them around a dry ditch outside Jerusalem. The structure is deliberately Edenic: a man is given a house, a city, and the free use of everything in it, with one boundary and one sanction attached to the day of crossing. He calls the word good. He keeps it three years. Then a small, legitimate, recoverable loss sends him out, and the going out is the whole of his sin. This is why we think the apparatus is asking a question the narrative does not answer. Ellicott is right that the arrangement looks like a snare, and the Pulpit is right that Solomon could not have spoken v. 45 as he does if he had believed himself cruel; both can be true, because the narrator declines to adjudicate the king's heart and instead adjudicates the man's feet. What the text does assert is that Shimei was told, sworn, witnessed against, and convicted out of his own mouth. Notice also that the verb Shimei spends on his slaves, bâqash, is the verb Israel is commanded to spend on the LORD, and that the verb by which he came home, šûḇ, is the verb by which his guilt came home. He sought what he could carry on a donkey and it cost him the Name he had sworn by. And in the same breath the throne is declared secure forever, which is the standing irony of 1 Kings: a kingdom made firm in a hand that must still be washed. Solomon's kingdom was established by removing his enemies; the kingdom this one prefigures is established by its King standing in the place of his.

Not a verse, our reading only: Shimei was not killed for going to Gath. He was killed for going out.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

“Dying thou shalt die”: the Edenic sentence on a named boundary structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The sanction Solomon pronounces in v. 37 and quotes back in v. 42, מוֹת תָּמוּת (môwṯ tāmûṯ, H4191), is the formula of Genesis 2:17, infinitive absolute reinforcing the imperfect, attached in both places to “on the day” of the forbidden act. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes but they are common ones, so we decline any claim of quotation and record only the shape: a free man in a good place, one prohibition, a named line, and death dated to the day of crossing. The Pulpit is the commentator who insists on hearing the Hebrew emphasis: “To know thou shalt know that to die thou shalt die.”

Genesis 2:17

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 2:37 / Genesis 2:17: shared H4191 mûwth (in 700 vv), H3117 yôwm (in 1930 vv), H3588 kîy (in 3910 vv). All three are high-frequency, so no verbal or quotation claim is made; the recorded link is the shared idiom (infinitive absolute plus imperfect of mûwth) inside a shared structure of single prohibition plus same-day death.

“His blood shall be on his own head”: Rahab's oath and a threshold structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Solomon's formula in v. 37, דָּמְךָ בְרֹאשֶׁךָ, is the legal transfer of liability, not a curse; Benson: “The blame and guilt of thy blood shall lie upon thyself only.” The Pulpit sends the reader to Leviticus 20:9 and “especially Joshua 2:19,” and the Verifier bears the second reference out: Rahab's covenant also turns on an oath, a boundary, and the act of going out. There a man who leaves the house forfeits the protection of the oath sworn over him; here a man who leaves the city forfeits the life granted him.

Joshua 2:19 · Leviticus 20:9

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 2:37 / Joshua 2:19: shared H1818 dâm (in 295 vv), H7218 rôʼsh (in 547 vv), H3318 yâtsâʼ (in 991 vv). A real three-lexeme verbal overlap forming a fixed legal idiom, but the lexemes are common and neither text cites the other, so the link is tiered structural. Leviticus 20:9 is carried on the Pulpit Commentary's citation, not on a Verifier computation.

Gath again: the road David fled by structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The slaves flee (bârach, H1272) to Achish at Gath, which is exactly where and to whom David fled from Saul (1 Samuel 21:10; 27:2). The apparatus is divided on whether this is the same Achish: Ellicott says chronology makes it “most unlikely” and proposes a hereditary throne name; Cambridge compares the Barcid Hannibals and Hamilcars; the Pulpit allows a fifty-year reign; Barnes prefers a grandson; Gill notes he would have to be very old. What is not in doubt is that the narrator has sent the man who cursed the fugitive David down the fugitive David's own road, to fetch back two slaves, at the price of his life.

1 Samuel 21:10 · 1 Samuel 27:2

basis: Verifier candidates: 1 Samuel 21:10 shares H1661 Gath (in 31 vv), H397 ʼĂkîysh (in 20 vv), H1272 bârach (in 64 vv); 1 Samuel 27:2 shares H1661 Gath and H397 ʼĂkîysh. Two of these are rare lexemes, but they are a place name and a personal name rather than quoted language, so we decline the verbal tier and record a confirmed narrative echo.

The curse at Bahurim and the oath David swore structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Nothing in vv. 36-46 states what Shimei did, yet the whole unit depends on it: he cursed David on the flight over this same Kidron (2 Samuel 16:5-13), David swore him his life (2 Samuel 19:23), and David's deathbed charge handed the unresolved case to Solomon (1 Kings 2:8-9). Solomon names it only in v. 44, “all the evil ... that you did to my father David,” and K&D identify the capital element precisely: “blaspheming the anointed of the Lord.” The Pulpit assembles a threefold charge: a profaned oath by the Name (Leviticus 19:12), a broken parole, and the old blasphemy of the LORD's anointed.

2 Samuel 16:7 · 1 Kings 2:8 · 2 Samuel 19:23

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 2:44 / 2 Samuel 16:7: shared H8096 Shimʻîy (in 40 vv). Verifier candidates also return 1 Kings 2:8 and 2 Samuel 19:23 on H8096. The shared lexeme is a personal name, which establishes that these texts are about the same man and nothing more; the substance of the link is narrative continuity recorded by Ellicott, Poole, Benson, K&D and the Pulpit.

“Established before the LORD forever”: Solomon answering Nathan structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Verse 45 is the densest theological line in the unit, and it is spoken as a legal finding: King Solomon blessed (bārûḵ) and David's throne established (nâkôn, Nifal of kûwn) before the LORD unto forever. The clause reassembles the vocabulary of Nathan's oracle. Cambridge states the logic Solomon is using: he “regards the punishments which he has inflicted and is about to inflict, as a fulfilment of the conditions under which the promise was made.” Verse 46 then repeats the root in the perfect, nāḵônāh, of the kingdom in Solomon's hand, so that the unit closes by binding the throne's eternal security to one execution in the Kidron's shadow. We note the strain in that as a fact about the text, not a defect in it.

2 Samuel 7:16 · 1 Kings 2:33

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 2:45 / 2 Samuel 7:16: shared H3678 kiççêʼ (in 124 vv), H3559 kûwn (in 211 vv), H5769 ʻôwlâm (in 414 vv), H5704 ʻad (in 1127 vv), H6440 pânîym (in 1892 vv). Four content lexemes in the same clausal order make this close to allusion, but none is rare and 1 Kings does not mark it as citation, so it is tiered structural rather than verbal. 1 Kings 2:33 is carried on Cambridge's and K&D's own cross-reference.

The winter torrent: a line David crossed weeping, and one other typological

⚙ The boundary Solomon names is a נַחַל (nachal, H5158), a winter torrent bed, dry for most of the year. David crossed it barefoot and weeping in flight from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:23), and it was on that flight that Shimei cursed him. John's Gospel records that Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, went out with his disciples across the winter torrent of Kidron into a garden (John 18:1). ⚙ Honesty note: no commentator in this unit's apparatus draws this line, and no Strong's number can be shared between a Hebrew text and a Greek one, so nothing verbal is claimed here. We offer it as our own figural reading and expect it to be tested: in 1 Kings the crossing of Kidron is where a guilty man goes out to his death; in John it is where an innocent one goes out to his.

John 18:1 · 2 Samuel 15:23

basis: Cross-Testament: Greek Κεδρών at John 18:1 transliterates Hebrew קִדְרוֹן (H6939), so no shared Strong's lexeme exists and no verbal tier is possible. The recorded basis is the shared named topography (the Kidron wady, identified by Barnes, K&D, Benson and the Pulpit as the eastern boundary of Jerusalem toward Bahurim) plus a figural reading of the two crossings. Novel to this synthesis, not attributed to any named commentator.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

A throne made sure before the LORD forever ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 45 claims more than a settled succession: David's throne is nâkôn, established, before the LORD, unto ʻôlām. Gill reads the clause at both levels at once, “the kingdom of Israel, spiritual Israel, for ever in his son the Messiah; and that in the presence of the Lord.” Matthew Henry, on this whole paragraph, says that “Solomon's throne was established in peace, as the type of the Redeemer's kingdom of peace and righteousness,” and adds the comfort he draws from it, that against the church's enemies “Christ's throne is established, and they cannot shake it.” Cambridge grounds the claim in 2 Samuel 7:13-16 and in the conditions attached to it. Luke's angel then speaks the same two nouns over another son of David: the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ⚙ Our comment: 1 Kings itself will show how little Solomon's own heart secured this, which is why the promise had to outlive the promisee.

2 Samuel 7:16 · Luke 1:32-33 · Acts 2:30

The stroke that falls, and the stroke that was laid on another novel

⚙ Benaiah goes out and וַיִּפְגַּע־בּוֹ (pâgaʻ, H6293). Strong's defines the root as “to impinge, by accident or violence, or (figuratively) by importunity,” and that double range is the whole point: the same verb that means to fall upon a man and kill him is the verb that means to press upon someone on another's behalf, to intercede. Isaiah's Servant song uses it in the causative for both movements: the LORD caused to fall on him the iniquity of us all, and he made intercession for the transgressors. The lexical fact is not a guess: the Verifier confirms that 1 Kings 2:46 and Isaiah 53:12 share H6293 pâgaʻ, a genuinely rare root standing in only 43 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Shimei's blood came back on his own head because the warning had been witnessed and the oath was his own; the gospel's claim is that a blood-guilt not his own was made to fall on the Servant, and that the one struck is the one interceding. ⚙ This is our own lexical observation, not a reading we found in the named commentary of this unit; we mark it novel and offer it for testing.

Isaiah 53:6 · Isaiah 53:12

Blood on whose head: two answers novel

⚙ The unit's governing legal formula is stated twice, in v. 37 by the king to the accused and in v. 44 by the king about the LORD: the blood is on Shimei's own head, and the evil is returned upon it. Benson and Poole both gloss it as the transfer of blame to the man himself, and the Pulpit reminds us that every Jewish reader expected transgression to receive its just recompense in this present life. ⚙ Our reading: the New Testament keeps the formula and breaks it. A crowd takes it on itself at a trial (Matthew 27:25), and the letter to the Hebrews answers with a blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel, because it is not the guilty party's own. Shimei died correctly under an oath he had sworn and approved. The gospel does not overturn that logic; it tells of a substitute who takes the head-blood formula onto himself. We mark this as our own construction, not a claim of any commentator here.

Matthew 27:25 · Hebrews 12:24

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text and sources for this unit, honestly stated. (1) The unreported oath. Verses 36-38 record a command and an answer, never an oath; v. 42 asserts one. Barnes and Cambridge both note that the Septuagint supplies the missing oath at v. 37 (“and the king made him to swear in that day”), and the Pulpit, printing the Greek, judges it “obviously a gloss.” We follow the Hebrew and treat the silence as deliberate narrative economy, but the reader should know the Greek tradition disagrees.

(2) Other Greek variants. Cambridge records that at v. 38 the LXX reads τρία ἔτη, “three years,” for the Hebrew “many days,” “a reading evidently drawn from the next verse.” The Pulpit notes that the Vatican LXX omits “And thou saidst unto me ...” at v. 42 and suggests אֲשֶׁר may be understood there. K&D report that the final clause of v. 46 is attached to chapter 3 in the Alexandrian LXX, the Vulgate and the Syriac, and Cambridge calls that “a most natural connexion.”

(3) Grammar disputed. At v. 44 the verb is a perfect, and Poole, Cambridge and the Pulpit all prefer “the Lord hath returned” to BSB's “will bring”; Cambridge argues the grammar allows no imperfect sense and reads the doom as already counted executed. Our note at that word follows them.

(4) Identity uncertain. Whether the Achish of v. 39 is David's old protector (1 Samuel 21:10; 27:2) is genuinely unsettled in the apparatus: Ellicott and Cambridge doubt it on chronology and suggest a dynastic name, the Pulpit allows it, Barnes prefers a grandson, Gill calculates the man would be very old. We report the disagreement rather than resolve it.

(5) Ethics disputed. Ellicott holds that the execution, though legal and perhaps politic, “cannot stand examination on the ground of equity or generosity,” and that the command was “in some degree intended as a snare”; Gill, Cambridge and Poole assume Solomon anticipated the breach; the Pulpit and K&D defend the action at length. Our sola reading does not adjudicate Solomon's motive, because the narrator does not.

(6) Data caution. The Berean interlinear word indices used for the notes follow the English gloss order at several points rather than the Hebrew (for example v. 36, where the article and noun “the king” are indexed before the verb that actually opens the clause, and v. 40, where the final clause's members are interleaved). The literal renderings above are built from the Hebrew order; the note keys remain the interlinear indices. (7) Verifier scope. Every badge basis above names either a Verifier computation run for this unit or the commentator who carries the cross-reference. Leviticus 20:9, Leviticus 19:12, 2 Samuel 15:23 and 2 Samuel 16:5-13 are carried on commentary citation, not on a computed lexeme match. The Kidron thread to John 18:1 is cross-Testament and therefore cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers at all; it is tiered typological and marked as our own. The Isaiah 53:12 connection in the christological section was checked with the Verifier and does rest on a computed shared lexeme (H6293 pâgaʻ, in 43 verses); the figural application built on it is ours and is marked novel.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)