¹¹ “But ^(A)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[a]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

Joab Executed

²⁸ Now the news came to Joab ^(A)because Joab had followed Adonijah, ^(B)though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and ^(C)took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and ^[a]was beside the altar. Then Solomon ^(D)sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “^(E)Go, ^[b]execute him.” ³⁰ So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “This is what the king has said: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me.” ³¹ And the king said to him, “^(F)Do just as he has spoken, and ^[c]execute him and bury him, ^(G)so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without ^[d]justification. ^32 (H)The Lord will return his blood on his own head, ^(I)because he ^[e]struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: ^(J)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^(K)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ^33 (L)So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his ^[f]descendants forever; but for David and his ^[g]descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” ³⁴ Then ^(M)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and ^[h]struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house ^(N)in the wilderness.