First Kings 2:12-41

¹²Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peacefully?” He replied, “Peacefully.”

¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” So she replied, “Speak.”

¹⁵Adonijah said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected me to be king. But things changed, and the kingdom was given to my brother, for it was his from Yahweh.

¹⁶Now I have one request of you, and do not turn away from my face.” Bathsheba said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not turn away from your face, so that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

¹⁸Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king.”

¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a throne brought for the king's mother. She sat at his right hand.

²⁰Then she said, “I wish to ask one small request of you, for you will not turn away from my face.” The king answered her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not turn away from your face.”

²¹She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.”

²²King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why do you not ask the kingdom for him also, for he is my elder brother—for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah?”

²³Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah will be put to death today.”

²⁵So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and Benaiah found Adonijah and put him to death.

²⁶Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields. You are worthy of death, but I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father and suffered in every way my father suffered.”

²⁷So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

²⁸The news came to Joab, for Joab had supported Adonijah, though he had not supported Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of Yahweh and took hold of the horns of the altar.

²⁹It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was now beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, execute him.”

³⁰So Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh and said to him, “The king says, 'Come out.'” Joab replied, “No, I will die here.” So Benaiah returned to the king, saying, “Joab said he wanted to die at the altar.”

³¹The king said to him, “Do as he has said. Kill him and bury him so that you may take away from me and from my father's house the blood that Joab shed without cause.

³²May Yahweh return his blood on his own head, because he attacked two men more righteous and better than himself and killed them with the sword, Abner son of Ner, the captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, the captain of the army of Judah, without my father David knowing it.

³³So may their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But to David and his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, may there be peace forever from Yahweh.”

³⁴Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and attacked Joab and killed him. He was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and he put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place.

³⁶Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any other place.

³⁷For on the day you go out, and pass over the Kidron Valley, know you for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.”

³⁸So Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my master the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

³⁹But at the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maacah, the king of Gath. So they told Shimei, saying, “See, your servants are in Gath.”

⁴⁰Then Shimei arose, saddled his donkey and went to Achish in Gath to seek his servants. He went and brought his servants back from Gath.

⁴¹When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,