¹⁴ However, if someone deliberately kills another person, then the slayer must be dragged even from my altar and be put to death.

²⁸ Joab had not joined Absalom’s earlier rebellion, but he had joined Adonijah’s rebellion. So when Joab heard about Adonijah’s death, he ran to the sacred tent of the Lord and grabbed on to the horns of the altar. ²⁹ When this was reported to King Solomon, he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him.

³⁰ Benaiah went to the sacred tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king orders you to come out!”

But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.”

So Benaiah returned to the king and told him what Joab had said.

³¹ “Do as he said,” the king replied. “Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of Joab’s senseless murders from me and from my father’s family. ³² The Lord will repay him^[a] for the murders of two men who were more righteous and better than he. For my father knew nothing about the deaths of Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and of Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ May their blood be on Joab and his descendants forever, and may the Lord grant peace forever to David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne.”

³⁴ So Benaiah son of Jehoiada returned to the sacred tent and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the wilderness.

²⁶ Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

¹⁰ He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.

These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings^[a] without so much as trembling.

¹⁵ Then Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders who were in charge of the troops, “Take her to the soldiers in front of the Temple,^[a] and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be killed in the Temple of the Lord.”

⁵⁰ Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he rushed to the sacred tent and grabbed on to the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah had seized the horns of the altar in fear, and that he was pleading, “Let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!”

⁹ “How are you, my cousin?” Joab said and took him by the beard with his right hand as though to kiss him. ¹⁰ Amasa didn’t notice the dagger in his left hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it so that his insides gushed out onto the ground. Joab did not need to strike again, and Amasa soon died. Joab and his brother Abishai left him lying there and continued after Sheba.

²⁷ When Abner arrived back at Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gateway as if to speak with him privately. But then he stabbed Abner in the stomach and killed him in revenge for killing his brother Asahel.

²⁴ ‘Cursed is anyone who attacks a neighbor in secret.’

And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’