23. Then Solomon said, “By the Lord, I swear I’ll make Adonijah pay for this with his life!
24. The Lord made me the king of Israel. He gave me the throne of my father David. The Lord kept his promise and gave the kingdom to me and my family. Now, as surely as the Lord lives, I swear Adonijah will die today!”
25. King Solomon gave the command to Benaiah, and Benaiah went out and killed Adonijah.
26. Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “I should kill you, but I will let you go back to your home in Anathoth. I will not kill you now because you helped carry the Holy Box of the Lord GOD while marching with my father David. And I know that you shared in the hard times with my father.”
27. So Solomon told Abiathar that he could not continue to serve as a priest of the Lord. This happened as the Lord said it would when he told Eli the priest what would happen to him and his family.
28. Joab had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom. But when Joab heard what happened to Abiathar, he was frightened and ran to the tent of the Lord to hold onto the horns of the altar.
29. Someone told King Solomon that Joab was at the altar in the Lord’S Tent. So Solomon ordered Benaiah to go and kill him.
30. Benaiah went into the Lord’S Tent and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.
31. The king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says! Kill him there and take him out to bury him. Then my family and I will be free of Joab’s guilt from killing innocent people.
32. Joab killed two men who were much better than he was. He killed Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah. He did this without my father’s knowledge. But now the Lord will punish Joab for the men he killed.