Kings III 2:19-31

¹⁹And Bathsheba went in to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah; and the king rose up to meet her, and kissed her, and sat on the throne, and a throne was set for the mother of the king, and she sat on his right hand.

²⁰And she said to him, I ask of thee one little request; turn not away my face from thee. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother, and I will not reject thee.

²¹And she said, Let, I pray thee, Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.

²²And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why hast thou asked Abishag for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother, and he has for his companion Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Zeruiah the commander-in-chief.

²³And King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if it be not that Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴And now as the Lord lives who has established me, and set me on the throne of my father David, and he has made me a house, as the Lord spoke, this day shall Adonijah be put to death.

²⁵So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he slew him, and Adonijah died in that day.

²⁶And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Depart thou quickly to Anathoth to thy farm, for thou art worthy of death this day; but I will not slay thee, because thou hast borne the ark of the covenant of the Lord before my father, and because thou wast afflicted in all things wherein my father was afflicted.

²⁷And Solomon removed Abiathar from being a priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸And the report came to Joab son of Zeruiah; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, and he went not after Solomon: and Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold of the horns of the altar.

²⁹And it was told Solomon, saying, Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and lo! he has hold of the horns of the altar. And King Solomon sent to Joab, saying, What ails thee, that thou hast fled to the altar? and Joab said, Because I was afraid of thee, and fled for refuge to the Lord. And Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, Go and slay him, and bury him.

³⁰And Benaiah son of Jehoiada came to Joab to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And Joab said, I will not come forth, for I will die here. And Benaiah son of Jehoiada returned and spoke to the king, saying, Thus has Joab spoken, and thus has he answered me.

³¹And the king said to him, Go, and do to him as he has spoken, and kill him: and thou shalt bury him, and thou shalt remove this day the blood which he shed without cause, from me and from the house of my father.