The Daily Audio Bible

David’s Last Words to Solomon

2 When David’s time to die was near, he told his son Solomon, ² “I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong. Show yourself to be a man. ³ Do what the Lord your God tells you. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and His Word, by what is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go. ⁴ Then the Lord will keep His promise to me. He has said to me, ‘Your sons must be careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and soul. If they do, you will never be without a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁵ Now you know what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me. You know what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel. He killed Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether in the time of peace as if it were in the time of war. He put the blood of war on his belt and on the shoes of his feet. ⁶ So act with wisdom. Do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace. ⁷ But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Let them be among those who eat at your table. For they helped me when I ran from your brother Absalom. ⁸ See, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim. It was he who spoke bad words against me on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I promised him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ So do not let him go without being punished. For you are a wise man. You will know what you should do to him. Bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”

The Death of David

¹⁰ Then David died and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ He had ruled over Israel forty years. Seven years he ruled in Hebron. And thirty-three years he ruled in Jerusalem. ¹² Solomon sat on the throne of his father David and things went well for the nation.

Solomon Had Adonijah Killed

¹³ Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Solomon’s mother Bathsheba. She said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “Yes, in peace.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” ¹⁵ So he said, “You know that the nation was mine. All Israel thought I would be king. But the nation has become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶ Now I have one thing to ask of you. Do not say no to me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷ He said, “I beg you, speak to Solomon the king. For he will not say no to you. Ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” ¹⁸ Bathsheba said, “Very well. I will speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to speak to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her, bowed in front of her, then sat on his throne. He had a seat brought in for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. ²⁰ She said, “I am asking you for one small thing. Do not say no to me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother. I will not say no to you.” ²¹ So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you asking me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah? Ask me to give him the nation also! For he is my older brother. And Abiathar the religious leader and Joab the son of Zeruiah are on his side!” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more, if Adonijah has not asked for this against his own life. ²⁴ The Lord has given me my place on the throne of my father David. He has made me a house as He promised. And as the Lord lives, for sure Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went to Adonijah and killed him.

Abiathar Sent Away and Joab Is Killed

²⁶ Then the king said to Abiathar the religious leader, “Go to your own fields at Anathoth, for you should be put to death. But I will not have you killed at this time. Because you carried the special box of the Lord God in front of my father David. And you shared in all of my father’s suffering.” ²⁷ So Solomon stopped Abiathar from being religious leader for the Lord any longer. This was done to keep the word of the Lord, which God had spoken about the family of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ Now the news came to Joab. For Joab had followed Adonijah, but he had not followed Absalom. And Joab ran to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord, and was beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and kill him.” ³⁰ Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord. He said to Joab, “The king says to come out.” But Joab said, “No! I will die here.” So Benaiah returned to the king and said, “This is what Joab said. This is how he answered me.” ³¹ The king said to him, “Do as he has said. Kill him and bury him. In this way you will take away from me and my father’s house the blood of those killed by Joab without a reason. ³² The Lord will return Joab’s acts of killing upon his own head. Because Joab killed two men who were right and good and better than he. He killed them with the sword while my father David did not know it. He killed Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. ³³ So their blood will be on the head of Joab and on the head of his children forever. But may there be peace from the Lord forever to David and his children, his house and his throne.” ³⁴ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and killed Joab. He was buried at his own house in the desert. ³⁵ The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s place. And the king put Zadok the religious leader in the place of Abiathar.

The Death of Shimei

³⁶ Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there. Do not leave there. ³⁷ For on the day you go out and cross the river Kidron, you will know for sure that you will die. Your blood will be on your own head.” ³⁸ Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish the son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was told, “See, your servants are in Gath.” ⁴⁰ Then Shimei got up and made his donkey ready to travel. And he went to Achish in Gath to look for his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. ⁴¹ Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. ⁴² So the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you promise by the Lord and tell you of danger, saying, ‘You will know for sure that on the day you leave and go anywhere, you will die’? And you said to me, ‘What you have said is good.’ ⁴³ Then why have you not kept the promise of the Lord? Why have you not done what I told you?” ⁴⁴ And the king said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the bad things you did to my father David. So the Lord will return your sin upon your own head. ⁴⁵ But good will come to King Solomon. The throne of David will keep its place before the Lord forever.” ⁴⁶ So the king told Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and killed Shimei. The nation was put under the rule of Solomon.

Solomon Asks for Wisdom

3 Then Solomon made a marriage agreement with Pharaoh the king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David. She stayed there until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were still giving their different gifts on altars, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

The Sin of Ananias and Sapphira

5 A man by the name of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold some land. ² He kept back part of the money for himself. His wife knew it also. The other part he took to the missionaries. ³ Peter said to Ananias, “Why did you let Satan fill your heart? He made you lie to the Holy Spirit. You kept back part of the money you got from your land. ⁴ Was not the land yours before you sold it? After it was sold, you could have done what you wanted to do with the money. Why did you allow your heart to do this? You have lied to God, not to men.”

⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down dead. Much fear came on all those who heard what was done. ⁶ The young men got up and covered his body and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ About three hours later his wife came in. She did not know what had happened. ⁸ Peter said to her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for this amount of money?” She said, “Yes.” ⁹ Then Peter said to her, “How could you two have talked together about lying to the Holy Spirit? See! Those who buried your husband are standing at the door and they will carry you out also.” ¹⁰ At once she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in, they found that she was dead. They took her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ Much fear came on all the church and on all who heard it.

The First Church Grows

¹² The missionaries did many powerful works among the people. They gathered together on Solomon’s Porch. ¹³ No one from outside their own group came in with them because they were afraid. But those outside the church had respect for the followers. ¹⁴ Many more men and women put their trust in Christ and were added to the group. ¹⁵ They brought the sick people and laid them on the streets hoping that if Peter walked by, his shadow would fall on some of them. ¹⁶ Many people went into Jerusalem from towns nearby. They took with them their sick people and all who were troubled with demons. All of them were healed.

The Missionaries Are Put in Prison

¹⁷ The head religious leader heard this. Some of the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead also heard of the people being healed. They became very jealous. ¹⁸ They took hold of the missionaries and put them in prison. ¹⁹ An angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison in the night and let them out. The angel said to them, ²⁰ “Go, stand where you have been standing in the house of God. Keep on telling the people about this new life.”

²¹ When Peter and John heard this, they went in the house of God early in the morning and began to teach. When the head religious leader and those with him had come, they gathered the men of the court and the leaders of the Jews together. Then they sent to have the missionaries brought to them from the prison. ²² When the soldiers got there, they did not find them in prison. They went back and told the court. ²³ The soldiers said, “We found the door of the prison locked and the soldiers watching the doors. When we opened the door, we found no one inside.”

²⁴ When the religious leaders and the leader of the house of God heard this, they were much troubled as to what might happen. ²⁵ Then someone came and told them, “The men you put in prison are now standing in the house of God and teaching the people.” ²⁶ The leader of the house of God took his men and got them. They did not hurt the missionaries because they were afraid the people would throw stones at them.

²⁷ They brought the missionaries in and made them stand in front of the court. The head religious leader said, ²⁸ “We told you not to teach about Christ! See! You are spreading this teaching over all Jerusalem. Now you are making it look as if we are guilty of killing this Man.”

The Missionaries Speak the Truth

²⁹ Then Peter and the missionaries said, “We must obey God instead of men! ³⁰ The God of our early fathers raised up Jesus, the One you killed and nailed to a cross. ³¹ God raised this Man to His own right side as a leader and as the One Who saves from the punishment of sin. He makes it possible for the Jews to be sorry for their sins. Then they can turn from them and be forgiven. ³² We have seen these things and are telling about them. The Holy Spirit makes these things known also. God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel Speaks in Court

³³ The religious leaders became angry when they heard this. They planned to kill the missionaries. ³⁴ Gamaliel was a man of the religious leaders’ court. He was a proud religious law-keeper and a teacher of the Law. He was respected by all the people. He stood up and said that the missionaries should be sent outside for a short time.

³⁵ Then Gamaliel said to the court, “Jewish men, be careful what you plan to do with these men. ³⁶ Remember that many years ago a man called Theudas made himself out to be someone great. He had about 400 followers. He was killed. His followers were divided and nothing came of his teaching. ³⁷ After him, Judas of the country of Galilee gathered many followers. It was the time for every person to have his name written in the books of the nation. This Judas was killed also. All his followers were divided and went away. ³⁸ I say to you now, stay away from these men and leave them alone. If this teaching and work is from men, it will come to nothing. ³⁹ If it is from God, you will not be able to stop it. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

⁴⁰ The court agreed with Gamaliel. So they called the missionaries in and beat them. They told them they must not speak in the name of Jesus. Then they were sent away.

⁴¹ So the missionaries went away from the court happy that they could suffer shame because of His Name. ⁴² Every day in the house of God and in the homes, they kept teaching and preaching about Jesus Christ.

God’s People Are Safe

125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but stands forever. ² The Lord is around His people like the mountains are around Jerusalem, now and forever. ³ For the sinful will not rule over the land of those who are right with God. So those who are right and good may not use their hands to do wrong.

⁴ O Lord, do good to those who are good, and to those who are right in their hearts. ⁵ But the Lord will let all those who turn aside to their sinful ways go with those who are sinners. Peace be upon Israel.

²⁵ There is a way that looks right to a man, but its end is the way of death.