1 Kings 11:1-25

New American Standard Bible

Solomon Turns from God

11 Now ^(A)King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations of which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “^(B)You shall not ^[a]associate with them, nor shall they ^[b]associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away ^[c]to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ^3 (C)He had seven hundred wives, who were ^[d]princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away ^[e]to follow other gods; and ^(D)his heart was not ^[f]wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been. ⁵ For Solomon became a follower of ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of ^[g](F)Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as his father David had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for ^(G)Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is ^[h]east of Jerusalem, and for ^(H)Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹ Now ^(I)the Lord was angry with Solomon ^(J)because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(K)who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰ and ^(L)had commanded him regarding this thing, that he was not to follow other gods; but he did not comply with what the Lord had commanded. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since ^[i]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, ^(M)I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant. ¹² However, I will not do it in your days, only for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet ^(N)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but ^(O)I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and ^(P)for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

God Raises Adversaries

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the ^[j]royal line in Edom. ¹⁵ For it came about, ^(Q)when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed in battle, and had ^(R)struck and killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom), ¹⁷ that Hadad fled ^[k]to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to ^(S)Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him food and gave him land. ¹⁹ Now Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰ And the sister of Tahpenes gave birth to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹ But ^(T)when Hadad heard in Egypt that David ^[l]lay down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, so that I may go to my own country.” ²² However, Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

^23 (U)God also raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^(V)Hadadezer, king of Zobah. ²⁴ And he gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, ^(W)after David killed those of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed ^[m]there, and reigned in Damascus. ²⁵ So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad inflicted; and he felt disgust for Israel and reigned over Aram.