26 (A)Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, (B)who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. (C)Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.

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Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

11 But (A)King Solomon loved (B)many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, (C)“You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, (D)that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his (E)heart was not [a]loyal to the Lord his God, (F)as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after (G)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after (H)Milcom[b] the abomination of the (I)Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. (J)Then Solomon built a [c]high place for (K)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on (L)the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 11:4 Lit. at peace with
  2. 1 Kings 11:5 Or Molech
  3. 1 Kings 11:7 A place for pagan worship

13 And I have also (A)given you what you have not asked: both (B)riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.

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26 (A)And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
[a]He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 7:26 Lit. He who is good before God

12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as (A)none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like.”

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Solomon Is Born

24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So (A)she bore a son, and (B)he[a] called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25 and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So [b]he called his name [c]Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 12:24 So with Kt., LXX, Vg.; Qr., a few Heb. mss., Syr., Tg. she
  2. 2 Samuel 12:25 Qr., some Heb. mss., Syr., Tg. she
  3. 2 Samuel 12:25 Lit. Beloved of the Lord

22 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

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