1 Reis 11

SOLOMON TAKES MANY WIVES

¹ Solomon loved many women. They were of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.

² Jehovah warned the children of Israel about these nations. He said: »You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you. They will certainly turn your hearts to go after their gods.« Solomon loved his wives anyway.

³ He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives. His wives influenced his heart to turn away.

SOLOMON TURNS AWAY FROM GOD

⁴ When Solomon was old he allowed his heart to be turned away to other gods by his wives. His heart was no longer true to Jehovah his God as the heart of his father David had been.

⁵ Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites.

⁶ Solomon did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. He did not walk in Jehovah’s ways with all his heart as David his father did.

⁷ Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain near Jerusalem. And for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon.

⁸ He did likewise for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.

⁹ Jehovah was angry with Solomon. This is because his heart turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision.

¹⁰ Jehovah had given him orders about this very thing that he was not to go after other gods. But he did not obey the orders of Jehovah.

¹¹ So Jehovah said to Solomon: »Because you have done this, and have not kept the agreement and laws I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant.

¹² »I will not do it in your lifetime, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son.

¹³ »Still I will not take the entire kingdom from him. I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection.«

¹⁴ Jehovah sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon. He was of the king's seed in Edom.

¹⁵ When David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the commander of the army went to bury the dead. They put to death every male in Edom.

¹⁶ Joab and all Israel stayed there six months until they had destroyed every male in Edom.

¹⁷ Hadad was a young boy at the time. He and some of his father's Edomite servants fled to Egypt.

¹⁸ They left Midian and went to Paran. Taking some men from Paran with them, they went to Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a home, a food allowance, and land.

¹⁹ Pharaoh approved of Hadad. So he gave Hadad his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad's wife.

²⁰ Tahpenes' sister had a son named Genubath. Tahpenes presented the boy to Pharaoh in the palace, and Genubath lived in the palace among Pharaoh's children.

²¹ When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king: »Let me go back to my own country.«

²² »Why?« The king asked. »Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?« Hadad answered: »Just let me go.« He went back to his country. As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.

²³ God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah,

²⁴ and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. This happened after David defeated Hadadezer and slaughtered his Syrian allies. Rezon and his gang lived in Damascus, where his followers made him king of Syria.

²⁵ He was trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. This is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom.

²⁶ Jeroboam rebelled against the king. He was the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow.

²⁷ This is how he rebelled: Solomon was building the Millo supporting terraces and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David.

²⁸ Jeroboam was a capable and responsible man. Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph.

²⁹ When Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new robe. They were by themselves in the open country.

³⁰ Ahijah took his new robe in his hands and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ He said to Jeroboam: »Take ten of the parts, for this is what Jehovah said: ‘I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force. I will give ten tribes to you.

³² »‘But one tribe will be his because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem. Out of the tribes of Israel he will have the town I have made mine.

³³ »‘I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshiped foreign gods. Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon disobeyed me. He has done wrong! He has not obeyed my laws and commands as his father David did.

³⁴ »‘I will not take the entire kingdom away from Solomon. I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands.

³⁵ »‘I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes.

³⁶ »‘I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe. That way I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshiped.

³⁷ »‘Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel. You will rule over all the territory that you want.

³⁸ »‘If you obey me completely I will always be with you. You must live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David.

³⁹ »‘Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.’«

⁴⁰ For this reason Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death.

⁴¹ Everything else that Solomon did, his career, and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon.

⁴² He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

⁴³ He died and was buried in David's City. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.