1 Kings 11

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, ²from 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. ⁴For 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. ⁵For Solomon became a follower of ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of ^[g]^(F)Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. ⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as his father David had done. ⁷Then 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. ⁸He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹Now ^(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, ¹⁰and ^(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. ¹¹So 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. ¹²However, 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. ¹³Yet ^(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

¹⁴Then the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the ^[j]royal line in Edom. ¹⁵For 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), ¹⁷that Hadad fled ^[k]to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy. ¹⁸They 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. ¹⁹Now 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. ²⁰And 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. ²¹But ^(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.” ²²However, 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. ²⁴And 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. ²⁵So 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.

²⁶Then ^(X)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, ^(Y)also ^[n]rebelled against the king. ²⁷Now this was the reason why he ^[o]rebelled against the king: ^(Z)Solomon built the ^[p]Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of his father David. ²⁸Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when ^(AA)Solomon saw that the young man was ^[q]industrious, he appointed him over all the ^[r]forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that ^(AB)the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now ^[s]Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field. ³⁰Then ^(AC)Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, ^(AD)I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes ³²(^(AE)but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(AF)the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel), ³³because they have abandoned Me, and ^(AG)have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, ^(AH)Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. ³⁴Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes; ³⁵but ^(AI)I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you; that is, ten tribes. ³⁶But ^(AJ)to his son I will give one tribe, ^(AK)so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, ^(AL)the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. ³⁷However I will take you, and you shall reign over all that ^[t]you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then ^(AM)I will be with you and ^(AN)build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹So I will oppress the ^[u]descendants of David for this, but not always.’” ⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam set out and fled to Egypt to ^(AO)Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The Death of Solomon

⁴¹^(AP)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴²So ^(AQ)the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³Then Solomon ^[v]^(AR)lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son ^(AS)Rehoboam reigned in his place.