1 Kings 1:41-53

Living Bible

⁴¹ Adonijah and his guests heard the commotion and shouting just as they were finishing their banquet.

“What’s going on?” Joab demanded. “Why is the city in such an uproar?”

⁴² And while he was still speaking, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, rushed in.

“Come in,” Adonijah said to him, “for you are a good man; you must have good news.”

⁴³ “Our lord King David has declared Solomon as king!” Jonathan shouted. ^44-45 “The king sent him to Gihon with Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah, protected by the king’s own bodyguard; and he rode on the king’s own mule. And Zadok and Nathan have anointed him as the new king! They have just returned, and the whole city is celebrating and rejoicing. That’s what all the noise is. ^46-47 Solomon is sitting on the throne, and all the people are congratulating King David, saying, ‘May God bless you even more through Solomon than he has blessed you personally! May God make Solomon’s reign even greater than yours!’ And the king is lying in bed, acknowledging their blessings. ⁴⁸ He is saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has selected one of my sons to sit upon my throne while I am still alive to see it.’”

^49-50 Then Adonijah and his guests jumped up from the banquet table and fled in panic; for they were fearful for their lives. Adonijah rushed into the Tabernacle and caught hold of the horns of the sacred altar. ⁵¹ When word reached Solomon that Adonijah was claiming sanctuary in the Tabernacle, and pleading for clemency, ⁵² Solomon replied, “If he behaves himself, he will not be harmed; but if he does not, he shall die.” ⁵³ So King Solomon summoned him, and they brought him down from the altar. He came to bow low before the king; and then Solomon curtly dismissed him.

“Go on home,” he said.