⁷ He conferred with ^(A)Joab the son of Zeruiah and with ^(B)Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him.

²⁵ and Sheva was secretary; and ^(A)Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask ^(A)Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, ^(B)for he is my older brother, and on his side ^(C)are Abiathar^[a] the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.”

⁶ David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first ^(A)shall be chief and commander.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.

²⁶ And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to ^(A)Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, ^(B)because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father, ^(C)and because you shared in all my father's affliction.” ^27 (D)So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling ^(E)the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ When the news came to Joab—for Joab ^(F)had supported Adonijah although ^(G)he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the ^(H)horns of the altar. ²⁹ And when it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” ³⁰ So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹ The king replied to him, ^(I)“Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, ^(J)and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause. ³² The Lord will ^(K)bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men ^(L)more righteous and better than himself, ^(M)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^(N)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ^33 (O)So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the Lord forevermore.” ³⁴ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ^35 (P)The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab, and the king put ^(Q)Zadok the priest ^(R)in the place of Abiathar.

^23 (A)Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites;

³⁵ Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, ^(A)tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

²⁴ And ^(A)Abiathar came up, and behold, ^(B)Zadok came also with all the Levites, ^(C)bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. ²⁵ Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will ^(D)bring me back and let me see both it and his ^(E)dwelling place. ²⁶ But if he says, ‘I have no ^(F)pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, ^(G)let him do to me what seems good to him.” ²⁷ The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a ^(H)seer? Go back^[a] to the city in peace, with ^(I)your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. ²⁸ See, I will wait at ^(J)the fords of ^(K)the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” ²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.