1 Kings 2:13-46

13Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So 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 yourself know that 2the kingdom was mine and 3that all Israel 4intended for me to be king; 5however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother’s, 6for it was his from the Lord. 16So now 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.” 18And Bathsheba 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 stood to meet her, bowed to her, and sat on his throne; then he 10had a throne set up 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.” 22But King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? 16Request for him the kingdom as well--17since he is my older brother--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 so, if Adonijah has 19not spoken this word against his own 20life! 24Now then, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and 21has made me a house just as He 22promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!” 25Then King Solomon 23sent the order by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he 24struck him so that he died.

26Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “25Go to Anathoth to your own field, 26for you 27deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this 28time, because 29you carried the ark of the Lord 30God before my father David, and because 31you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, to fulfill 32the word of the Lord, which He had spoken regarding the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28Now the news came to Joab 33because Joab had followed Adonijah, 34though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and 35took hold of the horns of the altar. 29And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and 36was beside the altar. Then Solomon 37sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “38Go, 39execute him.” 30So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “This is what the king has said: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me.” 31And the king said to him, “40Do just as he has spoken, and 41execute him and bury him, 42so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without 43justification. 3244The Lord will return his blood on his own head, 45because he 46struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: 47Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and 48Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 3349So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his 50descendants forever; but for David and his 51descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34Then 52Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and 53struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house 54in the wilderness. 35And 55the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed 56Zadok the priest 57in place of Abiathar.

36Now the king sent men and summoned 58Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place. 37For on the day you leave and 59cross the 60brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; 61your blood will be 62on your own head.” 38Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

39But it came about at the end of three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away 63to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And others told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40Then Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I 64imposed on you?” 44The king also said to Shimei, “65You yourself know all the evil that 66you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore 67the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45But King Solomon will be blessed, and 68the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.” 4669So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and 70struck him so that he died.

71And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.