1 Kings 2:19-31

¹⁹So Bathsheba went to talk to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king got up from his throne to meet her, and bowed before her. Then he sat back down and ordered another throne brought in for his mother. She sat to his right.

²⁰“I have just one small request to ask of you,” she said. “Please don't say no.” The king replied, “Ask away, dear mother. I won't say no to you.”

²¹“Please give Abishag from Shunem to your brother Adonijah as his wife,” she replied.

²²King Solomon answered his mother, “Why on earth are you asking me to give Abishag to Adonijah? You might as well ask me to give my brother the kingdom! He is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab, son of Zeruiah, are on his side!”

²³Then King Solomon vowed before the Lord, “May God punish me, really punish me, if what Adonijah has asked for doesn't cost him his life.

²⁴So I vow, as the Lord lives, who affirmed me as king and placed me on the throne of my father David, making me the head of a dynasty as he promised, Adonijah shall be executed today.”

²⁵King Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who carried out the king's orders and executed Adonijah.

²⁶In the case of Abiathar, the high priest, the king told him, “Go home and take care of your fields. You should be condemned to death, but I will not kill you right now because you carried the Ark of the Lord God ahead of my father David and went through all his hard times with him.”

²⁷So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, and so fulfilled what the Lord had said at Shiloh regarding the descendants of Eli.

²⁸When Joab heard the news he ran to the Lord's Tent and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. (He had not supported Absalom's rebellion but he had supported Adonijah.)

²⁹When King Solomon was told that Joab was seeking sanctuary by the altar, he sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, to execute him.

³⁰Benaiah went to the Lord's Tent and told called to Joab, “The king orders you to come out!” “No! I'll die here!” Joab replied. Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.

³¹“Do as he says,” the king told Benaiah. “Strike him down and bury him. In that way you will remove from me and my family the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed.