1 Kings 2:28-34

New King James Version

²⁸Then 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. ²⁹And 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.” ³⁰So 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.”

³¹Then 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. ³²So 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. ³³Their 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.”

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

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Footnotes

1 Kings 2:32 Or bloodshed

1 Kings 2:28-34

New International Version

²⁸When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns^(A) of the altar. ²⁹King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar.^(B) Then Solomon ordered Benaiah^(C) son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”

³⁰So Benaiah entered the tent^(D) of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!^(E)’”

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

Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”

³¹Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood^(F) that Joab shed. ³²The Lord will repay^(G) him for the blood he shed,^(H) because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa^(I) son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army—were better^(J) men and more upright than he. ³³May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord’s peace forever.”