Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

11 But ^(A)King Solomon loved ^(B)many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— ² from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, ^(C)“You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For it was so, when Solomon was old, ^(D)that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his ^(E)heart was not ^[a]loyal to the Lord his God, ^(F)as was the heart of his father David. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(G)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(H)Milcom^[b] the abomination of the ^(I)Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. ^7 (J)Then Solomon built a ^[c]high place for ^(K)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on ^(L)the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. ⁸ And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹ So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, ^(M)who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰ and ^(N)had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. ¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, ^(O)I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your ^(P)servant. ¹² Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ^13 (Q)However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give ^(R)one tribe to your son ^(S)for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem ^(T)which I have chosen.”

Adversaries of Solomon

¹⁴ Now the Lord ^(U)raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom. ^15 (V)For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, ^(W)after he had killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (because for six months Joab remained there with all Israel, until he had cut down every male in Edom), ¹⁷ that Hadad fled to go to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him. Hadad was still a little child. ¹⁸ Then they arose from Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, apportioned food for him, and gave him land. ¹⁹ And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, that is, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ Then the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh.

^21 (X)So when Hadad heard in Egypt that David ^[d]rested with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, ^[e]“Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”

²² Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that suddenly you seek to go to your own country?”

So he answered, “Nothing, but do let me go anyway.”

²³ And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from his lord, ^(Y)Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ So he gathered men to him and became captain over a band of raiders, ^(Z)when David killed those of Zobah. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there, and reigned in Damascus. ²⁵ He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon (besides the trouble that Hadad caused); and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

²⁶ Then Solomon’s servant, ^(AA)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, ^(AB)also ^(AC)rebelled against the king.

²⁷ And this is what caused him to rebel against the king: ^(AD)Solomon had built the Millo and ^[f]repaired the damages to the City of David his father. ²⁸ The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was ^(AE)industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet ^(AF)Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. ³⁰ Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and ^(AG)tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for ^(AH)thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you ³² (but he shall have 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 (AI)because ^[g]they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David. ³⁴ However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. ³⁵ But ^(AJ)I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—ten tribes. ³⁶ And to his son I will give one tribe, that ^(AK)My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there. ³⁷ So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then ^(AL)I will be with you and ^(AM)build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. ³⁹ And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’ ”

⁴⁰ Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to ^(AN)Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The Vanity of Life

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, ^(A)king in Jerusalem.

The Grief of Wisdom

¹² I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I set my heart to seek and ^(L)search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; ^(M)this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be ^[e]exercised. ¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁶ I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained ^(O)more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has ^[f]understood great wisdom and knowledge.” ^17 (P)And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

The Vanity of Pleasure^(R)

2 I said ^(S)in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with ^(T)mirth; ^[g]therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, ^(U)this also was vanity. ² I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” ^3 (V)I searched in my heart how ^[h]to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was ^(W)good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

⁴ I made my works great, I built myself ^(X)houses, and planted myself vineyards. ⁵ I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made myself water pools from which to ^[i]water the growing trees of the grove. ⁷ I acquired male and female servants, and had ^[j]servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. ^8 (Y)I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and ^[k]musical instruments of all kinds.

^9 (Z)So I became great and ^[l]excelled ^(AA)more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

The End of the Wise and the Fool

¹⁷ Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁸ Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because ^(AJ)I must leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. ²¹ For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his ^[n]heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ^22 (AK)For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? ²³ For all his days are ^(AL)sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (AM)Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. ²⁵ For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, ^[o]more than I? ²⁶ For God gives ^(AN)wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that ^(AO)he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Everything Has Its Time

The God-Given Task

^9 (AW)What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? ^10 (AX)I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that ^(AY)no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

¹² I know that nothing is ^(AZ)better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, ¹³ and also that ^(BA)every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Injustice Seems to Prevail

¹⁶ Moreover ^(BD)I saw under the sun:

¹⁷ I said in my heart,

¹⁸ I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” ^19 (BF)For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. ²⁰ All go to one place: ^(BG)all are from the dust, and all return to dust. ^21 (BH)Who^[v] knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? ^22 (BI)So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for ^(BJ)that is his ^[w]heritage. ^(BK)For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?