¹⁴ “But if a man acts with ^(A)premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, ^(B)you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.

²⁸ Then news came to Joab, for Joab ^(A)had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and ^(B)took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ And King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord; there he is, by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, ^(C)strike him down.” ³⁰ So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ^(D)‘Come out!’ ”

And he said, “No, but I will die here.” And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

³¹ Then the king said to him, ^(E)“Do as he has said, and strike him down and bury him, ^(F)that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. ³² So the Lord ^(G)will return his ^[a]blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous ^(H)and better than he, and killed them with the sword—^(I)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and ^(J)Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. ³³ Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and ^(K)upon the head of his descendants forever. ^(L)But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.”

³⁴ So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶ For ^(A)if we sin willfully ^(B)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^(C)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

¹⁰ and especially ^(A)those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. ^(B)They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of ^[a]dignitaries,

¹⁵ And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the army, and said to them, “Take her outside ^[a]under guard, and slay with the sword whoever follows her.” For the priest had said, “Do not let her be killed in the house of the Lord.”

⁵⁰ Now Adonijah was afraid of Solomon; so he arose, and went and ^(A)took hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ And it was told Solomon, saying, “Indeed Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; for look, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ ”

⁹ Then Joab said to Amasa, “Are you in health, my brother?” ^(A)And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰ But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab’s hand. And ^(B)he struck him with it ^(C)in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground; and he did not strike him again. Thus he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.

²⁷ Now when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab ^(A)took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately, and there ^[a]stabbed him ^(B)in the stomach, so that he died for the blood of ^(C)Asahel his brother.