The king also said to Shimei, “You yourself know all the evil that you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your evil on your own head.
Parallel translations
- WEB The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head.
- KJV The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head;
- BSB 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.
- NKJV The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your wickedness on your own head.
- NLT The king also said to Shimei, “You certainly remember all the wicked things you did to my father, David. May the Lord now bring that evil on your own head.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon reminds Shimei of his earlier wickedness toward David, declaring that God will repay it on his own head. Past sin and present disobedience together bring his judgment.
Overview
Solomon links Shimei's broken oath with his old crime of cursing David, which Shimei's own conscience knew. The king declares that the LORD will return that wickedness upon Shimei himself, the recurring principle of sin recoiling on the sinner. Judgment long delayed by David's mercy now arrives through Solomon's justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Sam 16:5–13When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came.
- Ps 7:16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
- 1 Sam 25:39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.
- Ezek 17:19“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head.
- 1 Jn 3:20because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
- 1 Kgs 2:32–33Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.
- John 8:9They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.
- Hos 4:9It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
- Prov 5:22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
- Rom 2:15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 2:44 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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