1 Kings 1:42-53
1:42 As he was still speaking, Jonathan
son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for
an important man like you must be bringing good news.”
1:43 Jonathan replied
to Adonijah: “No!
Our master
King David has made Solomon king.
1:44 The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites and they put him on the king’s mule.
1:45 Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed
him king in Gihon. They went up from there rejoicing, and the city is in an uproar. That is the sound you hear.
1:46 Furthermore, Solomon has assumed the royal throne.
1:47 The king’s servants have even come to congratulate
our master
King David, saying, ‘May your God
make Solomon more famous than you and make him an even greater king than you!’
Then the king leaned
on the bed
1:48 and said
this: ‘The
Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because
today he has placed a successor on my throne and allowed me to see it.’”
1:49 All of Adonijah’s guests panicked; they jumped up and rushed off their separate ways.
1:50 Adonijah feared Solomon, so he got up and went and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.
1:51 Solomon was told, “Look, Adonijah fears you; see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon solemnly promise me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”
1:52 Solomon said, “If he is a loyal subject, not a hair of his head will be harmed, but if he is found to be a traitor, he will die.”
1:53 King Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, “Go home.”