1 Kings
Chapter 11
1 King Solomon loved many foreign women, including Pharaoh’s daughter and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and Hittite lands.
2 About the countries which God told the people of Israel, “Do not associate with them, nor let them associate with you, because they will surely turn your hearts towards their gods,” Solomon became very attached to them because of love.
3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred secondary wives, and his wives led his heart astray.
4 When Solomon was old, his wives made his heart follow other gods, and his heart was not as faithful to God as his father David’s heart was.
5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the Zidonians’ goddess, and Milcom, the Ammonites’ hated idol.
6 Solomon did bad things that God saw, and he didn’t follow God completely like his father David did.
7 Solomon built a worship site on the hill facing Jerusalem for Chemosh, the Moabites’ detested god, and for Molech, the Ammonites’ detested god.
8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 God was angry with Solomon because Solomon’s heart turned away from the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10 God told him not to follow other gods, but he did not obey what God commanded.
11 So God said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not followed my agreement and my rules that I gave you, I will certainly take the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.”
12 Despite this, I will not do it during your lifetime out of respect for your father David; instead, I will take it away from your son.
13 However, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son because of my servant David, and for Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
14 God made Hadad the Edomite, of royal blood from Edom, become Solomon’s enemy.
15 When David was in Edom and Joab, the army commander, had gone to bury the dead after defeating every man in Edom.
16 Joab stayed there with all Israel for six months, until he had killed every man in Edom.
17 Hadad ran away to Egypt with some of his father’s Edomite servants while he was still a young child.
18 They left Midian and went to Paran, taking people with them from Paran to Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave him a house, food, and land.
19 Hadad was liked very much by Pharaoh, so he let him marry his wife’s sister, Queen Tahpenes’s sister.
20 Tahpenes’ sister had a son named Genubath for him, and Tahpenes raised Genubath in the Pharaoh’s palace; Genubath grew up among the Pharaoh’s sons.
21 When Hadad in Egypt learned that David had died and that Joab, the army commander, was also dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go back to my own country.”
22 Then Pharaoh asked him, “What have you missed with me, that you want to go back to your own country?” He replied, “Nothing, but please let me go.”
23 God raised up another enemy against him, Rezon son of Eliadah, who had run away from his master Hadadezer, the king of Zobah.
24 He brought men together, became their leader, and ruled in Damascus after David defeated the people of Zobah. They lived there in Damascus.
25 He opposed Israel throughout Solomon’s reign, causing trouble like Hadad, hated Israel, and ruled over Syria.
26 Jeroboam, Nebat’s son from Zereda in Ephraim, who worked for Solomon and whose mother Zeruah was a widow, rebelled against the king.
27 He turned against the king because: Solomon had built Millo and fixed the damaged parts of his father David’s city.
28 Jeroboam was a brave and strong man. Solomon noticed that he was a hard worker, so he put him in charge of all the work for Joseph’s descendants.
29 At that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh found him on the road; Ahijah was wearing a new cloak, and they were alone in the field.
30 Ahijah took the new clothing he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
31 He told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces: God, the God of Israel, says, ‘Look, I will take the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.’”
32 He will keep one tribe for my servant David and for Jerusalem, the city I chose from all the tribes of Israel.
33 Because they left me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and did not follow my ways, doing what is right in my sight, and keeping my laws and rules, like David their ancestor did.
34 However, I won’t take the entire kingdom from him. Instead, I will let him be a leader all his life because of my servant David, whom I selected, since he followed my commands and rules.
35 I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and will give it to you, ten tribes.
36 I will give one tribe to his son so that my servant David may always have a presence in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to honor my name.
37 I will take you, and you will rule as you wish, and be king over Israel.
38 If you listen to all I tell you, follow my path, do what is right in my eyes, and keep my laws and commands like my servant David did; then I will be with you, build you a strong home, just like I did for David, and give you Israel.
39 I will punish David’s descendants for a while, but not forever.
40 Solomon wanted to kill Jeroboam. So Jeroboam got up, ran away to Egypt, to King Shishak, and stayed there until Solomon died.
41 The other things Solomon did, all his actions, and his wisdom, are they not recorded in the book about Solomon’s deeds?
42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
43 Solomon died and was buried in his father David’s city, and his son Rehoboam became king after him.