¹ Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he charged Solomon, his son, saying,

² I go the way of all the earth; be thou strong therefore and show thyself a man.

³ Keep the charge of the LORD thy God, walking in his ways, keeping his statutes and his commandments and his rights and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou may have understanding in all that thou doest and in everything that thou dost undertake,

⁴ that the LORD may confirm the word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If thy sons take heed to their way, walking before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.

⁵ Moreover thou knowest also what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me [and] what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel, unto Abner, the son of Ner and unto Amasa, the son of Jether, whom he slew, shedding the blood of war in peace and putting the blood of war upon his girdle that [was] about his loins and in his shoes that [were] on his feet.

⁶ Do, therefore, according to thy wisdom and let not his hoar head go down to Sheol in peace.

⁷ But show mercy unto the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table, for they came thus unto me when I fled because of Absalom, thy brother.

⁸ And, behold, [thou hast] with thee Shimei, the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.

⁹ Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for thou [art] a wise man and knowest what thou should do with him, but thou shalt bring his hoar head down to Sheol with blood.

¹⁰ And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹ The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹² Then Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was established greatly.

¹³ Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.

¹⁴ He said moreover, I have a word to say unto thee. And she said, Say on.

¹⁵ And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine and [that] all Israel had set their faces on me that I should reign, but the kingdom is turned about and is become my brother's, for by the LORD it was his.

¹⁶ And now I ask one petition of thee, do not deny me. And she said unto him, Say on.

¹⁷ Then he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king (for he will not deny thee) that he give me Abishag, the Shunammite to wife.

¹⁸ And Bathsheba said, Well, I will speak for thee unto the king.

¹⁹ Bathsheba, therefore, went unto King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself unto her and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand.

²⁰ Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; [I pray thee], do not deny me. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny thee.

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

²² And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he [is] my elder brother and he also has Abiathar, the priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah.

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

²⁴ Now, therefore, [as] the LORD lives, who has confirmed me, and set me on the throne of David, my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today.

²⁵ Then King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.

²⁶ And unto Abiathar, the priest, the king said, Go to Anathoth, unto thine own inheritance, for thou [art] worthy of death; but I will not put thee to death today because thou didst bare the ark of the Lord GOD before David, my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.

²⁷ So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ And the news came to Joab, for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he had not turned after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

²⁹ And it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD and that he was by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

³⁰ And Benaiah entered into the tabernacle of the LORD and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

³¹ And the king said unto him, Do as he has said and fall upon him and bury him that thou may take away from me and from the house of my father the blood which Joab shed without a cause.

³² And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and slew them with the sword without my father David knowing of it: Abner, the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.

³³ Their blood shall, therefore, return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever; but upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.

³⁴ So Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and fell upon him and slew him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵ And the king put Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, in his place over the host; and Zadok, the priest, the king put in the place of Abiathar.