1 Kings 2:13-46

13Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “1Do you come peacefully?” And he said, “Peacefully.” 14Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” 15So he said, “You know that 2the kingdom was mine and 3that all Israel 4expected me to be king; 5however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, 6for it was his from the Lord. 16Now I am making one request of you; do not 7refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 17Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not 8refuse you, that he may give me 9Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” 18Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he 10had a throne set for the king’s mother, and 11she sat on his right. 20Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; 12do not 13refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not 14refuse you.” 21So she said, “15Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” 22King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? 16Ask for him also the kingdom--17for he is my older brother--even for him, for 18Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” 23Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has 19not spoken this word against his own 20life. 24Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and 21who has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” 25So King Solomon 22sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.

26Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “23Go to Anathoth to your own field, 24for you 25deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because 26you carried the ark of the Lord 27God before my father David, and because 28you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, in order to fulfill 29the word of the Lord, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28Now the news came to Joab, 30for Joab had followed Adonijah, 31although he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and 32took hold of the horns of the altar. 29It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon 33sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “34Go, fall upon him.” 30So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “Thus the king has said, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me.” 31The king said to him, “35Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, 36that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause. 3237The Lord will return his blood on his own head, 38because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: 39Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and 40Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 3341So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his 42descendants forever; but to David and his 43descendants and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34Then 44Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house 45in the wilderness. 3546The king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed 47Zadok the priest 48in the place of Abiathar.

36Now the king sent and called for 49Shimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place. 37For on the day you go out and 50cross over the 51brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; 52your blood shall be on your own head.” 38Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

39But it came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away 53to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘You will know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word which I have heard is good.’ 43Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I 54have laid on you?” 44The king also said to Shimei, “55You know all the evil which 56you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore 57the Lord shall return your evil on your own head. 45But King Solomon shall be blessed, and 58the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.” 4659So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died.

60Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.