22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? aAsk for him also the kingdom—bfor he is my older brother—even for him, for cAbiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!”

23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has anot spoken this word against his own 1life.

24 “Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and awho has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.”

25 So King Solomon asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.

26 Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “aGo to Anathoth to your own field, bfor you 1deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because cyou carried the ark of the Lord 2God before my father David, and because dyou were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.”

27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, in order to fulfill athe word of the Lord, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Executed

28 Now the news came to Joab, afor Joab had followed Adonijah, balthough he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and ctook hold of the horns of the altar.

29 It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon asent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “bGo, fall upon him.”

30 So 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.”

31 The king said to him, “aDo as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, bthat you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause.

32 “aThe Lord will return his blood on his own head, bbecause 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: cAbner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and dAmasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

33 “aSo shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his 1descendants forever; but to David and his 1descendants and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.”

34 Then aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house bin the wilderness.

35 aThe king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed bZadok the priest cin the place of Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent and called for aShimei and said to him, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place.

37 “For on the day you go out and across over the 1brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; byour blood shall be on your own head.”

38 Shimei 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.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away ato Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.”

40 Then 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.

41 It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

42 So 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.’

43 “Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I 1have laid on you?”

44 The king also said to Shimei, “aYou know all the evil which 1you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore bthe Lord shall return your evil on your own head.

45 “But King Solomon shall be blessed, and athe throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”

46 aSo the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died.

bThus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.