1 Kings 11-12

Complete Jewish Bible

11 King Shlomo loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh. There were women from the Mo’avi, ‘Amoni, Edomi, Tzidoni and Hitti — ² nations about which Adonai had said to the people of Isra’el, “You are not to go among them or they among you, because they will turn your hearts away toward their gods.” But Shlomo was deeply attached to them by his love. ³ He had 700 wives, all princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Shlomo became old, his wives turned his heart away toward other gods; so that he was not wholehearted with Adonai his God, as David his father had been. ⁵ For Shlomo followed ‘Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni and Milkom the abomination of the ‘Amoni. ⁶ Thus Shlomo did what was evil in Adonai’s view and did not fully follow Adonai, as David his father had done. ⁷ Shlomo built a high place for K’mosh the abomination of Mo’av on the hill on front of Yerushalayim, and another for Molekh the abomination of the people of ‘Amon. ⁸ This is what he did for all his foreign wives, who then offered and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹ So Adonai grew angry with Shlomo, because his heart had turned away from Adonai the God of Isra’el, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and given him orders concerning this matter that he should not follow other gods. But he didn’t obey Adonai’s orders.

¹¹ So Adonai said to Shlomo, “Since this is what has been in your mind, and you haven’t kept my covenant and my regulations which I ordered you to obey, I will tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. ¹² However, for David your father’s sake I won’t do it while you are alive, but I will tear it away from your son. ¹³ Even then, I won’t tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Yerushalayim, which I have chosen.”

¹⁴ Then Adonai raised up an adversary against Shlomo, Hadad the Edomi, of the royal line of Edom. ¹⁵ Back when David had been in Edom, and Yo’av the commander of the army had gone up to bury the dead, having killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for Yo’av and all Isra’el had stayed there six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom), ¹⁷ Hadad had fled, he and a number of Edomi servants of his father’s with him, and gone into Egypt; at the time Hadad had been but a small boy. ¹⁸ On their way, they passed through Midyan and arrived in Pa’ran, took with them men from Pa’ran, and went on into Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave Hadad a house, saw to it that he had food and gave him land. ¹⁹ Hadad became a great favorite of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his own wife’s sister in marriage, that is, the sister of Tachp’neis the queen. ²⁰ The sister of Tachp’neis bore him G’nuvat his son, and Tachp’neis brought him up in Pharaoh’s own house, so that G’nuvat was in Pharaoh’s house along with Pharaoh’s sons. ²¹ When Hadad in Egypt heard that David slept with his ancestors and Yo’av the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so that I can return to my own country.” ²² Pharaoh asked him, “But what have you lacked with me that makes you want just now to go to your own country?” “Nothing in particular,” he replied, “but let me leave, anyway.”

²³ God raised up another adversary against Shlomo, Rezon the son of Elyada, who had fled from his lord Hadad‘ezer king of Tzovah ²⁴ when David killed the men from Tzovah. Rezon rallied men to himself and became the leader of a band of marauders; they went to Dammesek and settled there, while he became king of Dammesek. ²⁵ He remained an adversary as long as Shlomo lived, causing difficulties in addition to those of Hadad. He detested Isra’el and ruled Aram.

²⁶ Also Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, an Efrati from Tz’redah, whose mother’s name was Tz’ru‘ah, one of Shlomo’s servants, rebelled against the king. ²⁷ Here is the reason he rebelled against the king: Shlomo was building the Millo and closing the breach in [the wall of] the City of David his father. ²⁸ Now this Yarov‘am was a strong, energetic man; and Shlomo, seeing how serious the young man was, made him supervisor over all the work being done by the tribe of Yosef. ²⁹ Once, during this period, when Yarov‘am had gone out of Yerushalayim, the prophet Achiyah from Shiloh spotted him traveling. Achiyah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in open country. ³⁰ Achiyah took hold of his new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Yarov‘am, “Take ten pieces for yourself! For here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘I am going to tear the kingdom out of Shlomo’s hand, and I will give ten tribes to you. ³² But he will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Yerushalayim, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Isra’el. ³³ I will do this because they have abandoned me and worshipped ‘Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni, K’mosh the god of Mo’av and Milkom the god of the people of ‘Amon. They haven’t lived according to my ways, so that they could do what was right in my view and obey my regulations and rulings, as did David his father. ³⁴ Nevertheless, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him; but I will make him prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, because he obeyed my mitzvot and regulations. ³⁵ However, I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten tribes of it to you. ³⁶ To his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant will always have a light burning before me in Yerushalayim, the city I chose for myself as the place to put my name. ³⁷ I will take you, and you will rule over everything you want; you will be king over Isra’el. ³⁸ Now if you will listen to all that I order you, live according to my ways and do what is right in my view, so that you observe my regulations and mitzvot, as David my servant did; then I will be with you, and I will build you a lasting dynasty, as I built for David; and I will give Isra’el to you. ³⁹ For this [offense] I will trouble David’s descendants, but not forever.” ⁴⁰ Because of this Shlomo tried to kill Yarov‘am; but Yarov‘am roused himself, fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and stayed in Egypt until the death of Shlomo.

⁴¹ Other activities of Shlomo, all he accomplished and his wisdom are recorded in the Annals of Shlomo. ⁴² The length of Shlomo’s reign in Yerushalayim over all Isra’el was forty years. ⁴³ Then Shlomo slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David his father, and Rechav‘am his son became king in his place.

12 Rechav‘am went to Sh’khem, where all Isra’el had come to proclaim him king. ² When Yarov‘am the son of N’vat heard of it — for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from Shlomo; so Yarov‘am was living in Egypt; ³ but they sent and summoned him — Yarov‘am and the whole community of Isra’el came and said to Rechav‘am, ⁴ “Your father laid a harsh yoke on us. But if you will lighten the harsh service we had to render your father and ease his heavy yoke that he put on us, we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Leave me alone for three days, then come back to me.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rechav‘am consulted the older men who had been in attendance on Shlomo his father during his lifetime and asked, “What advice would you give me as to how to answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “If you will start today being a servant to these people — if you will serve them, be responsive to them and give them favorable consideration, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he didn’t take the advice the older men gave him; instead he consulted the young men he had grown up with, who were now his attendants. ⁹ He asked them, “What advice would you give me, so that we can give an answer to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men he had grown up with said to him, “These people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; but you, make it lighter for us’ — here’s the answer you should give them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Yes, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will make it heavier! My father controlled you with whips, but I will control you with scorpions!’”

¹² So Yarov‘am and all the people came to Rechav‘am the third day, as the king had requested by saying, “Come to me again the third day”; ¹³ and the king answered the people harshly. Abandoning the advice the older men had given him, ¹⁴ he addressed them according to the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke! My father controlled you with whips, but I will control you with scorpions!” ¹⁵ So the king didn’t listen to the people; and that was something Adonai brought about, so that he could fulfill his word, which Adonai had spoken through Achiyah from Shiloh to Yarov‘am the son of N’vat.

¹⁶ When all Isra’el saw that the king wasn’t listening to them, the people answered the king,

So Isra’el left for their tents.

¹⁷ But as for the people of Isra’el living in the cities of Y’hudah, Rechav‘am ruled over them. ¹⁸ King Rechav‘am then sent Adoram, who was in charge of forced labor; but all Isra’el stoned him to death. King Rechav‘am managed to mount his chariot and flee to Yerushalayim. ¹⁹ Isra’el has been in rebellion against the dynasty of David to this day.

²⁰ On hearing that Yarov‘am had returned, all Isra’el summoned him to the assembly and proclaimed him king over all Isra’el. No one followed the dynasty of David except the tribe of Y’hudah.

²¹ When Rechav‘am arrived in Yerushalayim, he assembled all the house of Y’hudah and the tribe of Binyamin, 180,000 select soldiers, to fight the house of Isra’el and bring the rulership back to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo. ²² But this word from God came to Sh’ma‘yah the man of God: ²³ “Speak to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo, king of Y’hudah, to all the house of Y’hudah and Binyamin and to the rest of the people; tell them ²⁴ that this is what Adonai says: ‘You are not to go up and fight your brothers the people of Isra’el! Every man is to go back home, because this is my doing.’” They paid attention to the word of Adonai and turned back, as Adonai had told them to do.

²⁵ Then Yarov‘am built up Sh’khem in the hills of Efrayim and lived there. After that, he left and built up P’nu’el. ²⁶ Nevertheless Yarov‘am said to himself, “Now the rulership will return to the house of David. ²⁷ For if these people continue going up to offer sacrifices in the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim, their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah. Then they will kill me and return to Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah.” ²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people, “You have been going up to Yerushalayim long enough! Here are your gods, Isra’el, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ He placed one in Beit-El and the other in Dan, ³⁰ and the affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other]. ³¹ He also set up temples on the high places and made cohanim from among all the people, even though they were not descended from Levi.

³² Yarov‘am instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, similar to the festival held in Y’hudah; he went up to the altar in Beit-El to sacrifice to the calves he had made; and he placed in Beit-El the cohanim he had appointed for the high places. ³³ He went up to the altar which he had set up in Beit-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had chosen on his own, and instituted a festival for the people of Isra’el; he went up to the altar to burn incense.