שמואל ב, פרק ט״ז, פסוק ז׳

As King David flees for his life, he is met with a barrage of harsh curses from Shimei son of Gera. Shimei vehemently demands that David step down and abandon his kingdom altogether [מצודת דוד]. The accusations hurled at the fleeing king are severe, portraying him as a man of profound violence. The Aramaic translation understands these insults as a declaration that David deserves the death penalty, or that his guilt is tied to the downfall of the house of Saul [רד״ק].

However, the primary approach among commentators is that Shimei is charging David with massive bloodshed, specifically blaming him for the assassinations of Abner and Ish-bosheth. According to this view, Shimei suspected that David's public grief over Abner and his swift execution of Ish-bosheth's killers were nothing more than a calculated act. He believed this public display was entirely fake, designed to cover up the king's secret orders to have the men murdered [חומת אנך]. Beyond the deaths associated with the house of Saul, other commentators suggest the accusation of bloodshed also points directly to David's responsibility for the death of Uriah the Hittite [מלבי״ם, אברבנאל].

The curses do not stop at violence, but extend to moral corruption. Shimei labels David a wicked man, which commentators understand as a reference to a completely different type of sin. While the previous insults focused on murder, this specific accusation targets David's actions with Bathsheba, condemning him for sleeping with a married woman [רלב״ג, מלבי״ם, אברבנאל].