David’s final instructions before he died

2 When David knew that he was about to die, he gave these final instructions to his son Solomon:

2 “I am about to die [EUP], like everyone else on earth does. Be courageous and conduct yourself as an adult should. 3 Do what Yahweh our God tells you to do. Conduct yourself as he wants you to do. Obey all of his laws and commands and precepts and instructions that are written in the laws that Moses gave us. Do this in order that you will prosper in all that you do and wherever you go. 4 If you continually do that, Yahweh will do what he promised me: He said, ‘If your descendants do what I tell them to do, and faithfully obey my commands with all their inner beings, they will always be [LIT] the ones who will rule [MTY] Israel.’

5 “There is something else that I want you to do. You know what Joab did to me. He killed my two army commanders, Abner and Amasa. He murdered them violently [MTY] during a time of peace, pretending that it was a time of war. Those two men ◄were innocent/had not done what was wrong►. But Joab killed them and caused their blood to stain his belt and his sandals. 6 Because you are wise, do to him what you think is best for you to do, but do not allow him to become old [MTY] and then die [IDM] peacefully.

7 “But be kind to the sons of Barzillai, the man from the Gilead region, and be sure that they always have enough food to eat [MTY]. Do that because Barzillai helped me when I was running away from your older brother Absalom.

8 Also, you remember Gera’s son Shimei from Bahurim town in the area where the descendants of Benjamin live. You know what he did to me. He cursed me terribly on the day I left Jerusalem and went to Mahanaim town. But when he later came down to see me at the Jordan River, I solemnly promised, while Yahweh listened [MTY], that I would not cause him to be executed. 9 But now you must [LIT] surely punish him. You are a wise man, so you will know what you should do to him. He is an old man [MTY], but be sure that he loses/sheds a lot of blood when you kill him [MTY].”

10 Then David died [EUP] and was buried in that part of Jerusalem which was called ‘The City of David’. 11 David had been the king of Israel for 40 years: He ruled for seven years in Hebron and for 33 years in Jerusalem. 12 Solomon became the ruler/king [MTY] to take the place of his father David and took control of all of the kingdom.