Adonijah son of David אֲדֹנִיָּהוּ בֶן־דָּוִד

David's fourth son, born in Hebron. A bitter thing is said of him: "His father had never crossed him at any time by asking, Why have you done so?" (I Kings 1:6)—that is, he had never once been told no.

When David had grown old, Adonijah "exalted himself, saying, I will be king." He got himself chariots and horsemen and fifty runners before him, drew in Joab and Abiathar the priest, and called his brothers to a feast at the stone of Zoheleth—but did not call Nathan, or Zadok, or Benaiah, or Solomon.

The prophet Nathan went to Bathsheba, she to the king, and that same day Solomon was ridden on the royal mule to Gihon and anointed. The sound of the horn reached the feast. Adonijah caught hold of the horns of the altar, and Solomon let him go: "If he shows himself a worthy man, not one hair of his shall fall to the earth."

Later he asked, through Bathsheba, for Abishag the Shunammite as a wife—a request read as a claim on the throne. That same day Solomon sent Benaiah, and he struck him down (I Kings 2:13–25).