1st Kings 2:12-41

¹²Forsooth Solomon sat upon the throne of David, his father, and his realm was made steadfast greatly.

¹³And Adonijah, the son of Haggith, entered to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon; and she said to him, Whether thine entering is peaceable? And he answered, It is peaceable.

¹⁴And he added, A word of me is to thee. And she said, Speak thou.

¹⁵And he said, Thou knowest that the realm was mine, and all Israel purposed to make me into king to them; but the realm is translated or transferred, and is made my brother’s; for of the Lord it is ordained to him.

¹⁶Now therefore I pray of thee one asking; shame thou not my face. And she said to him, Speak thou.

¹⁷And he said, I pray, that thou say to Solomon the king; for he may not deny anything to thee; that he give me Abishag of Shunem to wife.

¹⁸And Bathsheba said, Well, I shall speak for thee to the king.

¹⁹Therefore Bathsheba came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose against the coming of her, and worshipped her, and sat on his throne; and a throne was set to the mother of the king, and she sat at his right side.

²⁰And she said to him, I pray of thee one little asking; shame thou not my face. And the king said to her, My mother, ask thou; for it is not leaveful that I turn away thy face.

²¹And she said, Abishag of Shunem be given wife to Adonijah, thy brother.

²²And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother, Why askest thou Abishag of Shunem to Adonijah? Ask thou to him also the realm; certainly he is mine elder brother, and he hath Abiathar, priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah.

²³Therefore king Solomon swore by the Lord, and said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, for Adonijah hath spoken this word against his life.

²⁴And now the Lord liveth, that hath confirmed me, and hath set me on the throne of David, my father, and that hath made to me an house, as he spake, for Adonijah shall be slain today.

²⁵And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and Benaiah slew Adonijah, and he was dead.

²⁶Also the king said to Abiathar, the priest, Go thou into Anathoth, to thy field; and soothly thou art a man of death, that is, worthy of death, for conspiring against me, and David, my father; but today I shall not slay thee, for thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and thou sufferedest travail in all things, in which my father travailed.

²⁷Therefore Solomon putted out Abiathar, that he should not be priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord were ful filled, which he spake on the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸And a messenger came to Solo-mon, and said that Joab had bowed after Adonijah, and that he had not bowed after Solomon. Therefore Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and took the horn of the altar.

²⁹And it was told to king Solomon, that Joab had fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was beside the altar; and Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and said, Go thou, and slay him.

³⁰And Benaiah came to the taber-nacle of the Lord, and said to Joab, The king saith these things, Go thou out. And he said, I shall not go out, but I shall die here. Benaiah told the word to the king, and said, Joab spake these things, and answered these things to me.

³¹And the king said to Benaiah, Do thou as he hath spoken, and slay thou him, and bury him; and thou shalt remove the innocent blood, that was shed out of Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.

³²And the Lord yield on his head his blood, for he killed two just men, and better than himself, and he killed them by sword, while David, my father, knew not, Abner the son of Ner, the prince of the chivalry of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, the prince of the host of Judah.

³³And the blood of them shall turn again into the head of Joab, and into the head of his seed without end; but peace be of the Lord till into without end to David, and to his seed, and to the house, and the throne of him.

³⁴Therefore Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up, and assailed Joab, and killed him; and Joab was buried in his house in desert.

³⁵And the king ordained Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, upon the host for Joab; and the king put Zadok the priest for Abiathar.

³⁶Also the king sent, and called Shimei, and said to him, Build to thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell thou there, and thou shalt not go out from thence hither and thither;

³⁷for in whatever day thou goest out, and passest over the strand or stream of Kidron, know thou thee worthy to be slain; thy blood shall be on thine head.

³⁸And Shimei said to the king, The word of the king is good; as my lord the king spake, so thy servant shall do. And so Shimei dwelled in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹But it was done after three years, that the servants of Shimei fled to Achish, the son of Maachah, king of Gath; and it was told to Shimei, that his servants had gone into Gath.

⁴⁰And Shimei rose up, and saddled his ass, and went to Achish, into Gath, to seek his servants; and he brought them again from Gath.

⁴¹And it was told to king Solomon, that Shimei had gone to Gath from Jerusalem, and had come again.