1 Kings 1:50-51

1:50 Adonijah feared Solomon, so he got up and went and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ¹  1:51 Solomon was told, “Look, Adonijah fears you; ²  see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon solemnly promise ³  me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”

¹ sn Grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. The “horns” of the altar were the horn-shaped projections on the four corners of the altar (see Exod 27:2). By going to the holy place and grabbing hold of the horns of the altar, Adonijah was seeking asylum from Solomon.

² tn Heb “King Solomon.” The name and title have been replaced by the pronoun (“you”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Or “swear an oath to.”