Solomon’s Foreign Wives
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh — Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
from the nations of which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not go in among them, and they shall not come in among you; surely they will turn your heart after their gods.” To these Solomon clung in love.
And he had seven hundred wives who were princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart.
And it was, at the time of Solomon’s old age, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not whole with the LORD his God, like the heart of David his father.
And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.
And Solomon did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD like David his father.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab, on the mountain that faces Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable thing of the sons of Ammon.
And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
God’s Anger against Solomon
And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
and had commanded him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.
And the LORD said to Solomon: “Because this has been with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.
Only, in your days I will not do it, for the sake of David your father; out of the hand of your son I will tear it.
Yet I will not tear away the whole kingdom: one tribe I will give to your son, for the sake of David my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Hadad’s Return
And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon — Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal seed in Edom.
And it was, when David was with Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, that he struck down every male in Edom —
for six months Joab stayed there, and all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom.
But Hadad fled, he and Edomite men from his father’s servants with him, to go to Egypt; and Hadad was a small boy.
And they rose from Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he gave him a house, and assigned him bread, and gave him land.
And Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him as a wife the sister of his own wife — the sister of Tahpenes the queen mother.
And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
And Hadad heard in Egypt that David had lain down with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead; and Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, and I will go to my own land.”
And Pharaoh said to him, “But what do you lack with me, that look — you are seeking to go to your own land?” And he said, “Nothing — but surely send me away.”
Rezon’s Hostility
And God raised up against him another adversary — Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from Hadadezer, king of Zobah, his lord.
And he gathered men around him and became commander of a raiding band, when David killed them; and they went to Damascus and stayed in it, and reigned in Damascus.
And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon — this along with the evil that Hadad did; and he loathed Israel, and reigned over Aram.
Jeroboam’s Rebellion
And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah — and his mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman — a servant of Solomon, he too lifted a hand against the king.
And this was the matter for which he lifted a hand against the king: Solomon built the Millo; he closed up the breach of the city of David his father.
And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw the young man, that he was a doer of work, and he appointed him over all the burden-labor of the house of Joseph.
And it was at that time, when Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, that Ahijah the Shilonite, the prophet, found him on the way; and he was covered with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the field.
And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.
And he said to Jeroboam: “Take for yourself ten pieces. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Look — I am tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you the ten tribes.
And the one tribe shall be his — for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel —
because they have abandoned me, and prostrated themselves to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in my ways, to do what is upright in my eyes, and my statutes and my judgments, like David his father.
But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand — for I will keep him as leader all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.
But I will take the kingship out of the hand of his son, and give it to you — the ten tribes.
And to his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant may have a lamp all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen for myself, to set my name there.
And you I will take, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires; and you shall be king over Israel.
And it shall be, if you listen to all that I command you, and walk in my ways, and do what is upright in my eyes, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did — then I will be with you, and I will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.
And I will afflict the seed of David because of this — but not all the days.”
And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death; and Jeroboam rose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
The Death of Solomon
And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom — are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years.
And Solomon lay down with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.