God Raises Adversaries

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the ^[a]royal line in Edom. ¹⁵ For it came about, ^(A)when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed in battle, and had ^(B)struck and killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom), ¹⁷ that Hadad fled ^[b]to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to ^(C)Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him food and gave him land. ¹⁹ Now Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰ And the sister of Tahpenes gave birth to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹ But ^(D)when Hadad heard in Egypt that David ^[c]lay down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, so that I may go to my own country.” ²² However, Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

^23 (E)God also raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^(F)Hadadezer, king of Zobah. ²⁴ And he gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, ^(G)after David killed those of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed ^[d]there, and reigned in Damascus. ²⁵ So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad inflicted; and he felt disgust for Israel and reigned over Aram.

²⁶ Then ^(H)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, ^(I)also ^[e]rebelled against the king. ²⁷ Now this was the reason why he ^[f]rebelled against the king: ^(J)Solomon built the ^[g]Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of his father David. ²⁸ Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when ^(K)Solomon saw that the young man was ^[h]industrious, he appointed him over all the ^[i]forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that ^(L)the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now ^[j]Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field. ³⁰ Then ^(M)Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, ^(N)I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes ³² (^(O)but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(P)the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because they have abandoned Me, and ^(Q)have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, ^(R)Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. ³⁴ Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes; ³⁵ but ^(S)I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you; that is, ten tribes. ³⁶ But ^(T)to his son I will give one tribe, ^(U)so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, ^(V)the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. ³⁷ However I will take you, and you shall reign over all that ^[k]you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then ^(W)I will be with you and ^(X)build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ So I will oppress the ^[l]descendants of David for this, but not always.’” ⁴⁰ Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam set out and fled to Egypt to ^(Y)Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.