1 Kings - Chapter 11

¹ King Solomon loved many foreign women: not only Pharaoh's daughter but Moabites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites,

² from those peoples of whom Yahweh had said to the Israelites, 'You are not to go among them nor they among you, or they will be sure to sway your hearts to their own gods.' But Solomon was deeply attached to them.

³ He had seven hundred wives of royal rank and three hundred concubines.

⁴ When Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods; and his heart was not wholly with Yahweh his God as his father David's had been.

⁵ Solomon became a follower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammonite abomination.

⁶ He did what was displeasing to Yahweh, and was not a wholehearted follower of Yahweh, as his father David had been.

⁷ Then it was that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem, and to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrifice to their gods.

⁹ Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, God of Israel, who had twice appeared to him

¹⁰ and had forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out Yahweh's order.

¹¹ Yahweh therefore said to Solomon, 'Since you have behaved like this and have not kept my covenant or the laws which I laid down for you, I shall tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

¹² For your father David's sake, however, I shall not do this during your lifetime, but shall tear it out of your son's hands.

¹³ Even so, I shall not tear the whole kingdom from him. For the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen, I shall leave your son one tribe.'

¹⁴ Yahweh raised an enemy against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, of the kingly stock of Edom.

¹⁵ After David had crushed Edom, Joab the army commander had gone to bury the dead and had slaughtered the entire male population of Edom

¹⁶ (Joab stayed there with all Israel for six months until he had exterminated the entire male population of Edom),

¹⁷ but Hadad with a number of Edomites in his father's service had fled to Egypt. Hadad had been only a boy at the time.

¹⁸ They set out from Midian, and on reaching Paran, took a number of men from Paran with them and went on to Egypt, to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who provided him with a house, undertook to maintain him, and assigned him an estate.

¹⁹ Hadad became a great favourite of Pharaoh who gave him his own wife's sister in marriage, the sister of the Great Lady Tahpenes.

²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath whom Tahpenes brought up in Pharaoh's palace, Genubath living in Pharaoh's palace with Pharaoh's own children.

²¹ But when news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had fallen asleep with his ancestors and that Joab the army commander was dead, he said to Pharaoh, 'Give me leave to go that I may return to my own country.'

²² 'What do you lack here with me,' Pharaoh said, 'for you to want to go back to your country?' 'Nothing,' he replied, 'but please let me go.'Hence the harm which Hadad caused: he loathed Israel and ruled Edom.

²³ God raised a second enemy against Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada. He had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴ A number of men having rallied to him, he became leader of a marauding band (which was then massacred by David). Rezon captured Damascus and settled there and became king of Damascus.

²⁵ He was hostile to Israel as long as Solomon lived.

²⁶ Jeroboam was the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah; the name of his mother, a widow, was Zeruah; he was in Solomon's service but revolted against the king.

²⁷ This is the account of his revolt. Solomon was building the Millo and closing the breach in the City of David his father.

²⁸ Now this Jeroboam was a man of great energy; Solomon, noticing how the young man set about his work, put him in charge of all the forced labour of the House of Joseph.

²⁹ One day when Jeroboam had gone out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh accosted him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak; the two of them were in the open country by themselves.

³⁰ Ahijah took the new cloak which he was wearing and tore it into twelve strips,

³¹ saying to Jeroboam: 'Take ten strips for yourself, for Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "I am going to tear the kingdom from Solomon's hand and give ten tribes to you.

³² He will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel;

³³ for he has forsaken me to worship Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, Milcom the god of the Ammonites; he has not followed my ways by doing what I regard as right, or by keeping my laws and ordinances as his father David did.

³⁴ But it is not from his hands that I will take the kingdom, since I have made him a prince for as long as he lives, for the sake of my servant David who kept my commandments and laws.

³⁵ I shall, however, take the kingdom from the hand of his son, and I shall give it to you, that is, the ten tribes.

³⁶ I shall give one tribe to his son, so that my servant David may always have a lamp in my presence in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen as a dwelling-place for my name.

³⁷ You nonetheless I shall appoint to rule over as much as you wish, and you will be king of Israel.

³⁸ If you listen to all my orders and follow my ways, by doing what I regard as right and by keeping my laws and commandments as my servant David did, then I shall be with you and shall build you as enduring a dynasty as the one which I built for David. I shall give Israel to you,

³⁹ and I shall humble the descendants of David, but not for ever." '

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam but he made off and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until Solomon's death.

⁴¹ The rest of the history of Solomon, his entire career, his wisdom, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of Solomon?

⁴² Solomon's reign in Jerusalem over all Israel lasted forty years.

⁴³ When Solomon fell asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of David his father; his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

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