1st Kings 2:4-30

⁴That the Lord confirm his words, which the Lord spake of me, and said, If thy sons keep my ways, and go before me in truth, in all their heart, and in all their soul, a man shall not be taken away of thee from the throne of Israel.

⁵Also thou knowest what things Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me; what things he did to the two princes of the host of Israel, to Abner, the son of Ner, and to Amasa, the son of Jether, which he killed, and shedded the blood of battle in peace; and putted or put the blood of battle in his girdle, that was about his loins, and in his shoes, that was in his feet.

⁶Therefore thou shalt do by thy wisdom, and thou shalt not lead forth his hoariness peaceably to hells, either sepulchre.

⁷But also thou shalt yield grace to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead, and they shall be eating in thy board; for they met me, when I fled from the face of Absalom, thy brother.

⁸Also thou hast with thee Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, of Bahurim, the which Shimei cursed me by the worst cursing, when I went to the defensible places; but for-thy he came down to me into my meeting, when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, and said, I shall not slay thee with sword,

⁹do not thou suffer him to be unpunished; forsooth thou art a wise man, and thou shalt know what thou shalt do to him, and thou shalt lead forth his hoar hairs with blood to hells or hell.

¹⁰And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹And the days, in which David reigned upon Israel, be forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem three and thirty years.

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.