1 Kings 2:19-31

¹⁹Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right hand.

²⁰And she said to him: I desire one small petition of thee, do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away thy face.

²¹And she said: Let Abisag the Sunamitess be given to Adonias thy brother to wife.

²²And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why dost thou ask Abisag the Sunamitess for Adonias? ask for him also the kingdom: for he is my elder brother, and hath Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Sarvia.

²³Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: So and so may God do to me, and add more, if Adonias hath not spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴And now as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and placed me upon the throne of David my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adonias shall be put to death this day.

²⁵And king Solomon sent by the hand of Banaias the son of Joiada, who slew him, and he died.

²⁶And the king said also to Abiathar the priest: Go to Anathoth to thy lands, for indeed thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst carry the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and hast endured trouble in all the troubles my father endured.

²⁷So Solomon cast out Abiathar, from being the priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Deli in Silo.

²⁸And the news came to Joab, because Joab had turned after Adonias, and had not turned after Solomon: and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord and laid hold on the horn of the altar.

²⁹And it was told king Solomon, that Joab was fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was by the altar: and Solomon sent Banaias the son of Joiada, saying: Go, kill him.

³⁰And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me.

³¹And the king said to him: Do as he hath said: and kill him, and bury him, and thou shalt remove the innocent blood which hath been shed by Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.