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1 Kings 11
New English Translation

The Lord Punishes Solomon for Idolatry

11 King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them![a] If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.”[b] But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them.[c]

3 He had 700 royal wives[d] and 300 concubines;[e] his wives had a powerful influence over him.[f] 4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to[g] other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.[h] 5 Solomon worshiped[i] the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom.[j] 6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight;[k] he did not remain loyal to[l] the Lord, as his father David had. 7 Furthermore,[m] on the hill east of Jerusalem[n] Solomon built a high place[o] for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh[p] and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom.[q] 8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods.[r]

9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance[s] away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions[t] 10 and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods.[u] But he did not obey[v] the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you,[w] I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead. 13 But I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave[x] your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”

14 The Lord brought[y] against Solomon an enemy, Hadad the Edomite, a descendant of the Edomite king. 15 During David’s campaign against Edom,[z] Joab, the commander of the army, while on a mission to bury the dead, killed every male in Edom. 16 For Joab and the entire Israelite army[aa] stayed there six months until they had exterminated every male in Edom.[ab] 17 Hadad,[ac] who was only a small boy at the time, escaped with some of his father’s Edomite servants and headed for Egypt.[ad] 18 They went from Midian to Paran; they took some men from Paran and went to Egypt. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave him a house and some land and supplied him with food.[ae] 19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so well[af] he gave him his sister-in-law (Queen Tahpenes’ sister) as a wife.[ag] 20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son,[ah] named Genubath. Tahpenes raised[ai] him in Pharaoh’s palace; Genubath grew up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s sons. 21 While in Egypt Hadad heard that David had passed away[aj] and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, “Give me permission to leave[ak] so I can return to my homeland.” 22 Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack here that makes you want to go to your homeland?”[al] Hadad replied,[am] “Nothing, but please give me permission to leave.”[an]

23 God also brought against Solomon[ao] another enemy, Rezon son of Eliada who had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. 24 He gathered some men and organized a raiding band.[ap] When David tried to kill them,[aq] they went to Damascus, where they settled down and gained control of the city. 25 He was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign and, like Hadad, caused trouble. He loathed[ar] Israel and ruled over Syria.

26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against[as] the king. He was an Ephraimite[at] from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. 27 This is what prompted him to rebel against the king:[au] Solomon built a terrace, and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David.[av] 28 Jeroboam was a talented man;[aw] when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe[ax] of Joseph. 29 At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah[ay] was wearing a brand new robe, 30 and he grabbed the robe[az] and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give ten tribes to you. 32 He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 I am taking the kingdom from him[ba] because they have[bb] abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions[bc] by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, as Solomon’s father David did.[bd] 34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules. 35 I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give ten tribes to you.[be] 36 I will leave[bf] his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me[bg] in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home.[bh] 37 I will select[bi] you; you will rule over all you desire to have and you will be king over Israel. 38 You must obey[bj] all I command you to do, follow my instructions,[bk] do what I approve,[bl] and keep my rules and commandments, as my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David;[bm] I will give you Israel. 39 I will humiliate David’s descendants because of this,[bn] but not forever.’”[bo] 40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt and found refuge with King Shishak of Egypt.[bp] He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon’s Reign Ends

41 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, including all his accomplishments and his wise decisions, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of Solomon.[bq] 42 Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years. 43 Then Solomon passed away[br] and was buried in the city of his father David.[bs] His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.[bt]

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
  2. 1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  3. 1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.
  4. 1 Kings 11:3 tn Heb “wives, princesses.”
  5. 1 Kings 11:3 sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. The usage in the present passage suggests that after the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (cf. also 2 Sam 21:10-14).
  6. 1 Kings 11:3 tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”
  7. 1 Kings 11:4 tn Heb “bent his heart after.”
  8. 1 Kings 11:4 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”
  9. 1 Kings 11:5 tn Heb “walked after.”
  10. 1 Kings 11:5 tn Heb “Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.”
  11. 1 Kings 11:6 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”
  12. 1 Kings 11:6 tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”
  13. 1 Kings 11:7 tn Heb “then.”
  14. 1 Kings 11:7 sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.
  15. 1 Kings 11:7 sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).
  16. 1 Kings 11:7 tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”
  17. 1 Kings 11:7 tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).
  18. 1 Kings 11:8 tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”
  19. 1 Kings 11:9 tn Heb “bent his heart.”
  20. 1 Kings 11:9 sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.
  21. 1 Kings 11:10 tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”
  22. 1 Kings 11:10 tn Or “keep.”
  23. 1 Kings 11:11 tn Heb “Because this is with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my rules which I commanded you.”
  24. 1 Kings 11:13 tn Heb “give.”
  25. 1 Kings 11:14 tn Or “raised up.”
  26. 1 Kings 11:15 tn Heb “when David was [fighting (?)] with Edom.”
  27. 1 Kings 11:16 tn Heb “and all Israel.”
  28. 1 Kings 11:16 tn Heb “until he had cut off every male in Edom.”
  29. 1 Kings 11:17 tn The MT reads “Adad,” an alternate form of the name Hadad.
  30. 1 Kings 11:17 tn Heb “and Adad fled, he and Edomite men from the servants of his father, to go to Egypt, and Hadad was a small boy.”
  31. 1 Kings 11:18 tn Heb “and they arose from Midian and went to Paran and they took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and he gave to him a house and food he said to him, and a land he gave to him.”
  32. 1 Kings 11:19 tn Heb “and Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh.”
  33. 1 Kings 11:19 tn Heb “and he gave to him a wife, the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.”
  34. 1 Kings 11:20 tn Heb “bore him Genubath his son.”
  35. 1 Kings 11:20 tc The Hebrew text reads וַתִּגְמְלֵהוּ (vattigmelehu, “weaned him”) but a slight alteration of the consonantal text yields וַתִּגְדְלֵהוּ (vattigdelehu, “raised him”), which seems to make better sense.
  36. 1 Kings 11:21 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  37. 1 Kings 11:21 tn Heb “send me away.”
  38. 1 Kings 11:22 tn Heb “Indeed what do you lack with me, that now you are seeking to go to your land?”
  39. 1 Kings 11:22 tn Heb “and he said.”
  40. 1 Kings 11:22 sn So Hadad asked Pharaoh…. This lengthy description of Hadad’s exile in Egypt explains why Hadad wanted to oppose Solomon and supports the author’s thesis that his hostility to Solomon found its ultimate source in divine providence. Though Hadad enjoyed a comfortable life in Egypt, when the Lord raised him up (apparently stirring up his desire for vengeance) he decided to leave the comforts of Egypt and return to Edom.
  41. 1 Kings 11:23 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Solomon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  42. 1 Kings 11:24 tn Heb “and he was the officer of a raiding band.”
  43. 1 Kings 11:24 tn The Hebrew text reads “when David killed them.” This phrase is traditionally joined with what precedes. The ancient Greek version does not reflect the phrase and some suggest that it has been misplaced from the end of v. 23.
  44. 1 Kings 11:25 tn The construction (Qal of קוּץ + בְּ [quts + bet] preposition) is rare, but not without parallel (see Lev 20:23).
  45. 1 Kings 11:26 tn Heb “raised a hand against.”
  46. 1 Kings 11:26 tn Heb “Ephrathite,” which here refers to an Ephraimite (see HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרַיִם).
  47. 1 Kings 11:27 tn Heb “this is the matter concerning which he raised a hand against the king.”
  48. 1 Kings 11:27 sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  49. 1 Kings 11:28 tn Heb “man of strength.”
  50. 1 Kings 11:28 tn Heb “house.”
  51. 1 Kings 11:29 tn The Hebrew text has simply “he,” making it a bit unclear whether Jeroboam or Ahijah is the subject, but in the Hebrew word order Ahijah is the nearer antecedent, and this is followed by the present translation.
  52. 1 Kings 11:30 tn Heb “and Ahijah grabbed the new robe that was on him.”
  53. 1 Kings 11:33 tn The words “I am taking the kingdom from him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  54. 1 Kings 11:33 tc This is the reading of the MT; the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he has.”
  55. 1 Kings 11:33 tn Heb “walked in my ways.”
  56. 1 Kings 11:33 tn Heb “by doing what is right in my eyes, my rules and my regulations, like David his father.”
  57. 1 Kings 11:35 tn Heb “and I will give it to you, ten tribes.”
  58. 1 Kings 11:36 tn Heb “give.”
  59. 1 Kings 11:36 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Because this imagery is unfamiliar to the modern reader, the translation “so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me” has been used.
  60. 1 Kings 11:36 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”
  61. 1 Kings 11:37 tn Heb “take.”
  62. 1 Kings 11:38 tn Heb “If you obey.” In the Hebrew text v. 38 is actually one long conditional sentence, which has been broken into two parts in the translation for stylistic purposes.
  63. 1 Kings 11:38 tn Heb “walk in my ways.”
  64. 1 Kings 11:38 tn Heb “do what is right in my eyes.”
  65. 1 Kings 11:38 tn Heb “I will build for you a permanent house, like I built for David.”
  66. 1 Kings 11:39 sn Because of this. Reference is made to the idolatry mentioned earlier.
  67. 1 Kings 11:39 tn Heb “but not all the days.”
  68. 1 Kings 11:40 tn Heb “but Jeroboam arose and ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt.”
  69. 1 Kings 11:41 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Solomon, and all which he did, and his wisdom, are they not written on the scroll of the events of Solomon?”
  70. 1 Kings 11:43 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  71. 1 Kings 11:43 sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  72. 1 Kings 11:43 tc Before this sentence the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it so happened that when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard—now he was in Egypt where he had fled from before Solomon and was residing in Egypt—he came straight to his city in the land of Sarira which is on mount Ephraim. And king Solomon slept with his fathers.”
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1 Kings 11
Lexham English Bible

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; 2 from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites,[a] “You shall not marry them,[b] and they shall not marry you.[c] They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love. 3 He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

Solomon’s Apostasy

4 It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been. 5 Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father. 7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces[d] Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.[e] 8 Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

Yahweh’s Judgment on Solomon

9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. 10 And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded. 11 So Yahweh said to Solomon, “Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will tear it away. 13 Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear away. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

14 Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom. 15 It had happened that when David was at Edom, Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom. 16 For Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months until he exterminated every male in Edom. 17 But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad was a young boy. 18 They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land. 19 Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as wife. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore Genubath his son for him, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of the house of Pharaoh. Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the children[f] of Pharaoh. 21 Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors[g] and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away that I may go to my land.” 22 Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now are seeking to go to your land?” He said, “No, but you must surely send me away.”

23 God had also raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master. 24 He gathered men around him and he became the commander of bandits. When David killed some of them, they went to Damascus and settled there,[h] and they reigned in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary for Israel all the days of Solomon, and along with the evil that Hadad did, he detested Israel while he reigned over Aram.

Yahweh Raises Up Jeroboam

26 Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother was Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon rebelled against the king.[i] 27 This is the reason that he rebelled against the king: when Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father. 28 Now the man Jeroboam was a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker,[j] so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. 29 It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them were alone in the field, 30 Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, 32 but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; 33 because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites.[k] They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father. 34 But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances. 35 But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you. 36 To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name. 37 You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 I will punish the offspring of David on account of this; however, not always.’” 40 Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom; are they not written on the scroll of the acts of Solomon? 42 All the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel were forty years. 43 Then Solomon slept with his ancestors,[l] and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into them”
  3. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into you”
  4. 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “was on the face of”
  5. 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
  6. 1 Kings 11:20 Or “sons”
  7. 1 Kings 11:21 Or “fathers”
  8. 1 Kings 11:24 Literally “in it”
  9. 1 Kings 11:26 Literally “raised a hand against the king”
  10. 1 Kings 11:28 Literally “was a doer of work he”
  11. 1 Kings 11:33 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
  12. 1 Kings 11:43 Or “fathers”
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