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Solomon Is Born

24 David comforted his wife Bathsheba and slept with her. Later on, she gave birth to another son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon

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24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba,(A) and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.(B) The Lord loved him;

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25 and sent Nathan the prophet to tell David, “The Lord will call him Jedidiah.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 12.25 Jedidiah: In Hebrew this name means “Loved by the Lord.”

25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 12:25 Jedidiah means loved by the Lord.

Solomon Disobeys the Lord

11 1-2 (A) The Lord did not want the Israelites to worship foreign gods, so he had warned them not to marry anyone who was not from Israel.

Solomon loved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt. But he also loved some women from Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and others from Sidon and the land of the Hittites. 3-4 Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married 300 other women.[a]

As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn't like his father David, who had worshiped only the Lord God. Solomon also worshiped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon. Solomon's father had obeyed the Lord with all his heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the Lord hated.

Solomon built shrines on a hill east of Jerusalem to worship Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. In fact, he built a shrine for each of his foreign wives, so all of them could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

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Footnotes

  1. 11.3,4 other women: This translates a Hebrew word for a woman who was legally bound to a man, but without the full privileges of a wife.

Solomon’s Wives

11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women(A) besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites,(B) Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry(C) with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines,(D) and his wives led him astray.(E) As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods,(F) and his heart was not fully devoted(G) to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth(H) the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek(I) the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil(J) in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

On a hill east(K) of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh(L) the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek(M) the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

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