1 Kings 2:13–25

Solomon Executes Adonijah

¹³Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, ^z“Do you come peaceably?”

And he said, “Peaceably.” ¹⁴Moreover he said, “I have something to say to you.”

And she said, “Say it.”

¹⁵Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was ^amine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother’s; for ^bit was his from the Lord. ¹⁶Now I ask one petition of you; do not ³deny me.”

And she said to him, “Say it.”

¹⁷Then he said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me ^cAbishag the Shunammite as wife.”

¹⁸So Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak for you to the king.”

¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and ^dbowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; ^eso she sat at his right hand. ²⁰Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not ⁴refuse me.”

And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

²¹So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”

²²And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my ^folder brother—for him, and for ^gAbiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, ^h“May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! ²⁴Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a ⁵house for me, as He ⁱpromised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

²⁵So King Solomon sent by the hand of ^jBenaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.