1 Kings 2
Open in the reader1As the time drew near for Beloved to die, he charged his son Peace,
2“I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and prove yourself a man.
3And keep the charge of He-Who-Is your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Teaching of Drawn-Out, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn,
4and so that He-Who-Is may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Strives-with-God.’
5Moreover, you know what He-Who-Is-Father son of Balm did to me—what he did to My-Father-Is-a-Lamp son of Lamp and Burden son of Abundance, the two commanders of the armies of Strives-with-God. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
6So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Place-of-the-Dead in peace.
7But show loving devotion to the sons of Iron-Man the Witness-Heap-One, and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they stood by me when I fled from your brother Father-of-Peace.
8Keep an eye on My-Hearing the son of Grain, the Benjamite from Young-Men who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Two-Camps, but when he came down to meet me at the Descender, I swore to him by He-Who-Is: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’
9Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to Place-of-the-Dead in blood.”
10Then Beloved rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of Beloved.
11The length of Beloved’s reign over Strives-with-God was forty years—seven years in Association and thirty-three years in Foundation-of-Peace.
12So Peace sat on the throne of his father Beloved, and his kingdom was firmly established.
13Now My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is son of Festive went to Daughter-of-Oath the mother of Peace, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?” “Yes, in peace,” he replied.
14Then he said, “I have something to tell you.” “Say it,” she answered.
15“You know that the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Strives-with-God expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from He-Who-Is.
16So now I have just one request of you; do not deny me.” “State your request,” she told him.
17My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is replied, “Please speak to King Peace, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Father-of-Error the Quiet-Place-One as my wife.”
18“Very well,” Daughter-of-Oath replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Daughter-of-Oath went to King Peace to speak to him for My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne brought for his mother, who sat down at his right hand.
20“I have just one small request of you,” she said. “Do not deny me.” “Make your request, my mother,” the king replied, “for I will not deny you.”
21So Daughter-of-Oath said, “Let Father-of-Error the Quiet-Place-One be given to your brother My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is as his wife.”
22King Peace answered his mother, “Why do you request Father-of-Error the Quiet-Place-One for My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Father-of-Abundance the priest and for He-Who-Is-Father son of Balm!”
23Then King Peace swore by He-Who-Is: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is has not made this request at the expense of his life.
24And now, as surely as He-Who-Is lives—the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father Beloved, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised—surely My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is shall be put to death today!”
25So King Peace gave orders to He-Who-Is-Has-Built son of He-Who-Is-Knows, and he struck down My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is and he died.
26Then the king said to Father-of-Abundance the priest, “Go back to your fields in Answers. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the Chest of the Lord He-Who-Is before my father Beloved, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”
27So Peace banished Father-of-Abundance from the priesthood of He-Who-Is and thus fulfilled the word that He-Who-Is had spoken at Shiloh against the house of My-Lifting-Up.
28When the news reached He-Who-Is-Father, who had conspired with My-Lord-Is-He-Who-Is but not with Father-of-Peace, he fled to the tent of He-Who-Is and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29It was reported to King Peace: “He-Who-Is-Father has fled to the tent of He-Who-Is and is now beside the altar.” So Peace sent He-Who-Is-Has-Built son of He-Who-Is-Knows, saying, “Go, strike him down!”
30And He-Who-Is-Has-Built entered the tent of He-Who-Is and said to He-Who-Is-Father, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But He-Who-Is-Father replied, “No, I will die here.” So He-Who-Is-Has-Built relayed the message to the king, saying, “This is how He-Who-Is-Father answered me.”
31And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that He-Who-Is-Father shed.
32He-Who-Is will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father Beloved he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword My-Father-Is-a-Lamp son of Lamp, commander of Strives-with-God’s army, and Burden son of Abundance, commander of Praised’s army.
33Their blood will come back upon the heads of He-Who-Is-Father and his descendants forever; but for Beloved, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from He-Who-Is forever.”
34So He-Who-Is-Has-Built son of He-Who-Is-Knows went up, struck down He-Who-Is-Father, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.
35And the king appointed He-Who-Is-Has-Built son of He-Who-Is-Knows in He-Who-Is-Father’s place over the army, and he appointed Righteous the priest in Father-of-Abundance’s place.
36Then the king summoned My-Hearing and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Foundation-of-Peace and live there, but do not go anywhere else.
37On the day you go out and cross the Dark-Place Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
38“The sentence is fair,” My-Hearing replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And My-Hearing lived in Foundation-of-Peace for a long time.
39After three years, however, two of My-Hearing’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Pressed-Down, king of Wine-Press. And My-Hearing was told, “Look, your slaves are in Wine-Press.”
40So My-Hearing saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Wine-Press in search of his slaves, and he brought them back from Wine-Press.
41When Peace was told that My-Hearing had gone from Foundation-of-Peace to Wine-Press and had returned,
42the king summoned My-Hearing and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by He-Who-Is 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.’
43So why have you not kept your oath to He-Who-Is and the command that I gave you?”
44The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father Beloved. Therefore He-Who-Is will bring your evil back upon your head.
45But King Peace will be blessed and Beloved’s throne will remain secure before He-Who-Is forever.”
46Then the king commanded He-Who-Is-Has-Built son of He-Who-Is-Knows, and he went out and struck My-Hearing down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Peace.