20 “I’m asking you for one little thing,” she said. “Don’t refuse me.”“Ask, Mother,” the king told her. “I won’t refuse you.”
21 She replied, “Let Abishag from Shunem be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”
22 King Solomon then said, “Why do you ask that Abishag from Shunem be given to Adonijah? That would be the same as giving him the kingship. After all, he is my older brother. The priest Abiathar and Joab (Zeruiah’s son) are supporting him.”
23 King Solomon took an oath by the Lord and said, “May God strike me dead if Adonijah doesn’t pay with his life for this request!
24 The Lord set me on my father David’s throne and gave me a dynasty as he promised. So I solemnly swear, as the Lord who has established me lives, that Adonijah will be put to death today.”
25 King Solomon gave this task to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. Benaiah attacked and killed Adonijah.
26 The king told the priest Abiathar, “Go to your land in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won’t kill you at this time because you carried the ark of the Almighty Lord ahead of my father David and because you shared all my father’s sufferings.”