1 Kings 2:30
◄  1 Kings 2:30  ►
New International Version (©2011)
So Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, "The king says, 'Come out!'" But he answered, "No, I will die here." Benaiah reported to the king, "This is how Joab answered me."

New Living Translation (©2007)
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.

English Standard Version (©2001)
So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, "Thus the king has said, 'Come out.'" But he said, "No, for I will die here." And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me."

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, "This is what the king says: 'Come out!'" But Joab said, "No, for I will die here." So Benaiah took a message back to the king, "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me."

International Standard Version (©2012)
So Benaiah went into the LORD's tent and told Joab, "The king orders you to come out!" "No," Joab said, "I'd rather die here!" So Benaiah went and informed the king, "This is how Joab answered me."

NET Bible (©2006)
When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the LORD, he said to him, "The king says, 'Come out!'" But he replied, "No, I will die here!" So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab's reply.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
When Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD, he told Joab, "The king says, 'Come out.' " "No," Joab answered, "I'll die here." So Benaiah reported to the king what Joab had said and how he had answered.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

American King James Version
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, Thus said the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

American Standard Version
And Benaiah came to the Tent of Jehovah, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me.

Darby Bible Translation
And Benaiah came to the tent of Jehovah and said to him, Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said, No; for I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

English Revised Version
And Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

World English Bible
Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth!'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

Young's Literal Translation
And Benaiah cometh in unto the tent of Jehovah, and saith unto him, 'Thus said the king, Come out;' and he saith, 'Nay, but here I die.' And Benaiah bringeth back the king word, saying, 'Thus spake Joab, yea, thus he answered me.'

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:26-34 Solomon's words to Abiathar, and his silence, imply that some recent conspiracies had been entered into. Those that show kindness to God's people shall have it remembered to their advantage. For this reason Solomon spares Abiathar's life, but dismisses him from his offices. In case of such sins as the blood of beasts would atone for, the altar was a refuge, but not in Joab's case. Solomon looks upward to God as the Author of peace, and forward to eternity as the perfection of it. The Lord of peace himself gives us that peace which is everlasting.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said unto him [Benaiah evidently "hesitated to stain the altar with blood." It was only the sanctity of the altar which made it an asylum. There was strictly no "right of sanctuary"], Thus saith the king, Come forth. [Probably Solomon bad directed that Joab should, if possible, be induced to leave the altar. Every Jew would dread its profanation by strife and bloodshed.] And he said, Nay; but I will die here. [Heb. "here will I die." Joab may possibly have thought that Solomon would hardly venture to put him to death there, and that so he might somehow escape with his life. But it is more probable that he counted on death, and that a feeling of superstition, or of defiance, had decided him to meet his doom there. It should be borne in mind that gross superstition not uncommonly accompanies irreligion and brutality; and it is quite conceivable that Joab hoped for some indefinable benefit from the shadow of the altar, much as the poor Polish Jew expects from burial in Jerusalem. Or his motive may have been defiance, thinking he would "render Solomon odious to the people, as a profaner of the Holy Place" (M. Henry). It can hardly have been to put off forever so short a time the execution, as Bishop Hall imagines.]

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord,.... At Gibeon:

and said unto him; that is, to Joab:

thus saith the king, come forth; meaning, out of the tabernacle; which plainly shows that his orders were not to slay him in it:

and he said, nay, but I will die here; since he must die, he chose to die there; but what was his reason for it is not so clear; the Jews, some of them, say, to save his goods, and that they might come to his heirs, which would have been forfeited to the crown if he had been tried and condemned in a court of judicature; others, that he might be buried with his ancestors, whereas, had he been sentenced to death by the court, he would have been buried in the common place of malefactors; but rather he thought, or at least hoped, he should not die at all; either that, by gaining time, Solomon might be prevailed upon to pardon him; or however that he would not defile that sacred place with his blood; or, if he should die, he chose to die there, as being a sacred place, and so might hope to receive some benefit from it, as to his future state, where sacrifices were offered to atone for sin:

and Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, thus said Joab, and thus he answered me; told me he would not come out, and, if he must die, he would die there.

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The Execution of Joab
28Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled to the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on him. 30And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, Thus said the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. …

1 Kings 2:29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, "Go, strike him down!"
1 Kings 2:31 Then 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 that Joab shed.