1 Kings 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 northey among you, or they wil be sure to sway your hearts to their own gods.' But Solomon was deeply attached tothem.

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 whol y withYahweh his God as his father David's had been.

⁵ Solomon became a fol ower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammoniteabomination.

⁶ He did what was displeasing to Yahweh, and was not a wholehearted fol ower of Yahweh, as his fatherDavid had been.

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

⁸ He did the same for al 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, whohad twice appeared to him

¹⁰ and had forbidden him to fol ow 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 covenantor 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 shal not do this during your lifetime, but shal tear it out ofyour son's hands.

¹³ Even so, I shall not tear the whole kingdom from him. For the sake of my servant David, and for thesake of Jerusalem which I have chosen, I shal 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 hadslaughtered the entire male population of Edom

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

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

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

¹⁹ Hadad became a great favourite of Pharaoh who gave him his own wife's sister in marriage, the sisterof 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 fal en asleep with his ancestors and that Joabthe 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 ral ied to him, he became leader of a marauding band (which was thenmassacred 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, wasZeruah; he was in Solomon's service but revolted against the king.

²⁷ This is the account of his revolt. Solomon was building the Mil o and closing the breach in the City ofDavid his father.

²⁸ Now this Jeroboam was a man of great energy; Solomon, noticing how the young man set about hiswork, put him in charge of al 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 onthe 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 totear the kingdom from Solomon's hand and give ten tribes to you.

³² He wil keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which Ihave chosen out of al 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 fol owed my ways by doing what I regard as right, or by keepingmy laws and ordinances as his father David did.

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

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

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

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

³⁸ If you listen to al my orders and follow my ways, by doing what I regard as right and by keeping mylaws and commandments as my servant David did, then I shal be with you and shal build you as enduring adynasty 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 kil Jeroboam but he made off and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and heremained 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 ofthe Annals of Solomon?

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

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