1 Kings 11
Revised Geneva Translation
11 But King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, the women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and Heth
2 (the nations of which the LORD had said to the children of Israel, ‘Do not go in to them or let them come in to you. For surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.’). To them Solomon joined in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives (princesses) and three hundred concubines. And his wives perverted his heart.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 So Solomon worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD, but continued not to follow the LORD, as David his father.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab (on the mountain that is opposite Jerusalem), and to Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and offered to their gods.
9 Therefore, the LORD was angry with Solomon, because he had turned his heart from the LORD God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice
10 and had given him a charge concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods. But he did not keep that which the LORD had Commanded him.
11 Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because this has been done by you, and you have not kept My Covenant and My Statutes which I Commanded you, I will surely tear your kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, because of David your father. But I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to your son, because of David my servant and because of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
14 Then the LORD stirred up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, of the king’s seed, who was in Edom.
15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had stricken all the males in Edom, and had gone up to bury the dead
16 (Joab and all Israel had remained there for six months until he had destroyed all the males in Edom),
17 then this Hadad fled, and certain other Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt (Hadad still being a little child).
18 And they arose out of Midian and came to Paran and took men with them out of Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and apportioned him food and gave him land.
19 So, Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh. And he gave him as a wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the Queen.
20 And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath, his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, so that I may go to my own country.”
22 But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you would go to your own country like this?” And he answered, “Nothing. But let me go anyway.”
23 And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah.
24 And he gathered men to him and had been captain over the company when David killed them. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there. And they made him king in Damascus.
25 Therefore, he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. Besides the evil that Hadad had done, he also abhorred Israel and reigned over Aram.
26 And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant (whose mother was called Zeruah, a widow) lifted up his hand against the king.
27 And this was the reason that he lifted up his hand against the king: When Solomon built Millo, he repaired the broken places of the City of David, his father.
28 And this man, Jeroboam, was a man of strength and courage. And Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him overseer of all the labor of the House of Joseph.
29 And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the road, having a new garment on him. And those two were alone in the field.
30 Then Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces,
31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself! For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you.
32 ‘But he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
33 ‘because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, and Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in My ways (to do right in My Eyes and My Statutes and My Laws) as David his father.
34 ‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand. For I will make him prince all his life long, for David my servant’s sake, whom I have chosen, who kept My Commandments and My Statutes.
35 ‘But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, the ten tribes.
36 ‘And to his son I will give one tribe, so that David My servant may have a light always before Me in Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen for Myself, to put My Name there.
37 ‘And I will take you. And you shall reign as your heart desires, and shall be king over Israel.
38 ‘And if you listen to all that I Command you, and will walk in My ways, and do right in My sight, to keep My Statutes and My Commandments as David my servant did, then will I be with you and build you a sure House, as I built to David. And will give Israel to you.
39 ‘And I will afflict the seed of David for this, but not forever.’”
40 Therefore, Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
41 And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
42 The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, his father. And Rehoboam, his son, reigned in his place.
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