21
"Let Abishag from Shunem be married to your brother Adonijah," she said.
22
King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why ask only for Abishag from Shunem for Adonijah? Why not ask for the entire kingdom for him? After all, he is my older brother and has the support of Abiathar the priest and Joab, Zeruiah's son."
23
King Solomon swore by the LORD, "May God do to me as he sees fit! Adonijah has made this request at the cost of his life!
24
Now, as surely as the LORD lives—the one who supported me, put me on the throne of my father David, and provided a royal house for me exactly as he promised—Adonijah will be executed today."
25
So King Solomon sent Benaiah, Jehoiada's son. He attacked Adonijah, and Adonijah died.
26
The king said to the priest Abiathar, "Go to your fields at Anathoth, because you are a condemned man. However, I won't kill you today because you carried the LORD's chest in front of my father David and because you shared in all my father's sufferings."
27
So Solomon expelled Abiathar from the LORD's priesthood in order to fulfill the LORD's word that was spoken against Eli's family at Shiloh.
28
Now the news reached Joab because he had supported Adonijah, though he hadn't supported Absalom. Joab ran to the LORD's tent and grabbed the horns of the altar.
29
King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the LORD's tent and was now beside the altar. So Solomon sent Benaiah, Jehoiada's son, instructing him, "Go. Attack Joab!"
30
Benaiah came to the LORD's tent and said to Joab, "The king says, ‘Come out!'" Joab said, "No! I'd rather die here." Benaiah sent a report back to the king: "This is what Joab said and how he answered me."
31
The king said to him, "Do as he said. Attack him and then bury him. In doing this, you will remove from me and from my father's royal house the guilt over the innocent blood that Joab shed.