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 Kings 11:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into them”
- 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into you”
- 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “was on the face of”
- 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- 1 Kings 11:20 Or “sons”
- 1 Kings 11:21 Or “fathers”
- 1 Kings 11:24 Literally “in it”
- 1 Kings 11:26 Literally “raised a hand against the king”
- 1 Kings 11:28 Literally “was a doer of work he”
- 1 Kings 11:33 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- 1 Kings 11:43 Or “fathers”
1 Kings 11
Christian Standard Bible
Solomon’s Unfaithfulness to God
11 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter:(A) Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women(B) 2 from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.”(C) To these women Solomon was deeply attached[a] in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines,(D) and they turned his heart away.(E)
4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.(F) 5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth,(G) the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom,(H) the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.(I) 6 Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord.
7 At that time, Solomon built a high place(J) for Chemosh,(K) the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom,[b](L) the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.(M) 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.(N) 10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded.(O)
11 Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this[c] and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.(P) 12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David;(Q) I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13 Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son(R) for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”
Solomon’s Enemies
14 So the Lord raised up(S) Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom. 15 Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. 16 For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.(T) 17 Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy. 18 Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran.(U) They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt,(V) who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he be given food, and gave him land. 19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so much[d] that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. 20 Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.
21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”
22 But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?”
“Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”
23 God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy(W) against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah(X) 24 and gathered men to himself. He became leader of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He[e] went to Damascus,(Y) lived there, and became king in Damascus. 25 Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He reigned over Aram[f](Z) and loathed Israel.
26 Now Solomon’s servant,(AA) Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled(AB) against Solomon, 27 and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces(AC) and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David. 28 Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.(AD)
29 During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite(AE) met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field. 30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into twelve pieces,(AF) 31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes, 32 but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David(AG) and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.(AH) 33 For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites.(AI) They have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.(AJ)
34 “‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom from him but will let him be ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and my statutes. 35 I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you. 36 I will give one tribe(AK) to his son,(AL) so that my servant David will always have a lamp[g] before me(AM) in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.(AN) 37 I will appoint you,(AO) and you will reign as king(AP) over all you want,(AQ) and you will be king over Israel.
38 “‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you.(AR) I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David,(AS) and I will give you Israel. 39 I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.’”[h](AT)
40 Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam,(AU) but he fled to Egypt,(AV) to King Shishak of Egypt,(AW) where he remained until Solomon’s death.
Solomon’s Death
41 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events.(AX) 42 The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled forty years.(AY) 43 Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam(AZ) became king in his place.(BA)
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.