Study Desk

While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, "Come in, for you are a valiant man and you bring good news."

Now it was reported to Solomon, saying, "Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'May King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.'"

"However, show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

"But now do not leave him unpunished, for you are a wise man; and you will know what to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood."

Now the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years.

So he said, "You yourself know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel intended for me to be king; however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother's, for it was his from the LORD.

Then he said, "Please speak to Solomon the king—for he will not refuse you—that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife."

And Bathsheba said, "Very well; I will speak to the king for you."

So 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 had a throne set up for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

Then she said, "I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

But King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "And why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Request for him the kingdom as well—since he is my older brother—for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!"

Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth to your own field, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted."

So 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."

"So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but for David and his descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the LORD forever."

Now the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place.

"For on the day you leave and cross the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; your blood will be on your own head."

Shimei 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.

Then 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.

So 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.'

The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.