First Kings 2:6-30

⁶Deal with Joab by the wisdom you have learned, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

⁷However, show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸Look, there is with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. Shimei came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

⁹Now therefore do not let him go free from punishment. You are a wise man, and you will know what you ought to do to him. You will bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.”

¹⁰Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. He had reigned for seven years in Hebron and for thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

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.”