564 Jonathan Grossman Actually, the implied reading that Shimei’s words allude to David’s sin finds additional support from the account of the end of David’s kingdom, from Solomon’s words to Shimei: “And the king said to Shimei, Thou knowst all the evil which thy heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy evil upon thy own head” (1 Kgs 2,44). The parallelism between Solomon’s words to Shimei and Shimei’s curse of David is quite obvious. Against Shimei’s words: “the LORD has returned upon thee”, Solomon says to Shimei: “the LORD shall return”. Against Shimei’s words: “thou art in evil plight”, Solomon says: “thy evil upon thy own head” (28). Since in Solomon’s words to Shimei, “thy evil” is meant to imply Shimei’s sin (cursing the king), it seems that the justice is with Alter, and in Shimei’s words, the “evil plight” should also be interpreted as ‘your sin’, the evil you have done. Thus, the two available readings contain a concrete meaning that fits the context of the verse and both are supported by the texture of words of the wider cycle of stories. In my opinion, here as well lies an intentional ambiguous expression: David’s evil plight at the present is a consequence of the evil he had done in the past (29). The double reading contributes to the design of the link between the sin and its punishment, even if Shimei had meant one sin (David usurping Saul’s kingdom), while the reader, who hears Nathan’s rebuke in the background, understands that David is being punished because of another sin (Bathsheba). III. “For his cursing” (16,12) David’s reaction to Shimei’s curse also contains an ambiguous expression whose function is to encourage the reader to pay attention to the dual causality that envelops David’s history. In David’s explanation of the fact that he refuses to kill Shimei (as Joab suggests) he says: “It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction and that the LORD will return me good for his cursing this day” (16,12). On a first reading, it seems that the one who is cursing, referred to by the word ‘his’, is Shimei (30). Moreover, David creates in his words a remarkable contrast between his hope and Shimei’s curse. Against Shimei’s words — “the LORD has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul” (2 Sam 16,8), David says — “the LORD will return me good for his cursing” (31). Yet, according to the syntactic structure of the sentence, God can also be (28) Compare: S.J. DEVRIES, 1 Kings (WBC; Waco, TX 1985) 36; FOKKELMAN, Narrative Art in Samuel, 389, 408; ALTER, David Story, 376; JACOBS, Measure for Measure, 69-71. (29) And as Kil says: “two evils are implied - that which you have done and that which has come upon you” (Y. KIL, Samuel, [Da’at Mikra; Jerusalem 1981] 459). And as Segal has implied: “the evil you have brought upon yourself by your evil deeds” (SEGAL, Samuel, 333). (30) So are most of the translations. Anderson has gone even further and added Shimei explicitly into his translation (Samuel, 200). (31) BAR-EFRAT, Samuel, 173. And compare with FOKKELMAN, Narrative Art in Samuel, 200.