^23 (A)Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴ And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. ²⁵ Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh,^[a] spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

^26 (B)And Solomon gathered together ^(C)chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the ^(D)chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as ^(E)the sycamore of the Shephelah. ²⁸ And Solomon's ^(F)import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders received them from Kue at a price. ²⁹ A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king's traders they were exported to all the kings of ^(G)the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

Solomon Turns from the Lord

11 Now ^(A)King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ^(B)“You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and ^(C)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, ^(D)as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(F)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for ^(G)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(H)Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.