^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.

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— ² 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. ³ And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ 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. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(G)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(H)Milcom^[b] the abomination of the ^(I)Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. ^7 (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. ⁸ And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

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.

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.”

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.

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