1st Kings 2:13-38

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, (or and she said to him, Cometh thou here in peace? And he answered, I have come in peace).

¹⁴And he added, A word of me is to thee, (or And he added, I have a word to say 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, and is made my brother’s ; for of the Lord it is ordained to him. (And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel purposed to make me king over them; but the kingdom was taken awayfrom me, and made my brother’s ; for the Lord ordained it 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 (or that he give me Abishag of Shunem for a 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. (And so Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose up to greet her, and honoured her, and then sat down on his throne; and a throne was put in place for the king’s mother, 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 (or for it would not be right for me to refuse thee).

²¹And she said, (Let) Abishag of Shunem be given (for a) wife to Adonijah, thy brother.

²²And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother, Why askest thou (only for) Abishag of Shunem to Adonijah? Ask thou to him also the realm, (or Why askest thou only for Abishag of Shunem for Adonijah? Why not ask thou also for the kingdom for him?); certainly he is mine elder brother, and he hath Abiathar, (the) 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 (own) 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. (And now as the Lord liveth, who hath firmly established me, and hath put me on the throne of my father David, and who hath made a house for me, as he promised, let Adonijah be killed today!)

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

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, (or And so Solomon put out Abiathar, so that he would no longer be the Lord’s priest), (so) that the word of the Lord were ful filled, which he spake on the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸And a messenger came to Solomon, 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. (And a message concerning all of this came to Joab; for he had sided with Adonijah, but not with Absalom. And so Joab fled into the Tabernacle, or the Tent, of the Lord, and took hold of the horns 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 tabernacle 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 (or Benaiah told this 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 (then) bury him; and thou shalt remove the innocent blood, that was shed out of Joab, from me, and from the house of my father, (or and so thou shalt remove the innocent blood that was shed by Joab, from me, and from my father’s house).

³²And the Lord yield on(to) his (own) head his (own) blood, for he killed two just men, and better than himself, and he killed them by (the) 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, (or that is, Abner the son of Ner, the leader of Israel’s cavalry,or army, and Amasa, the son of Jether, the leader of Judah’s army).

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. (And their blood shall return onto Joab’s head, and onto the head of his descendants forevermore; but let peace,or prosperity, be from the Lord forevermore for David, and for his descendants, and for his house, and his throne.)

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

³⁵And the king ordained Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, upon the host for Joab; and the king put Zadok the priest (in place) for Abiathar. (And the king ordained Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, over the army in place of Joab; and he made Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.)

³⁶Also the king sent, and called (for) Shimei, and said to him, Build to thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell thou there, (or Build a house for thyself in Jerusalem, and live thou in it), and thou shalt not go out from thence hither and thither;

³⁷for in whatever day thou goest out, and passest over the strand of Kidron, know thou thee worthy to be slain; thy blood shall be on thine head. (for in whatever day thou goest out, and passest over the Kidron Stream or and passest over the Kidron Gorge, know thou that thou shalt be killed; thy blood shall be upon thy own 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.