1 Kings 11:3-12:12

English Standard Version

³He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and ^(A)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, ^(B)as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after ^(C)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(D)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for ^(E)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(F)Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The Lord Raises Adversaries

⁹And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because ^(G)his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(H)who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰and ^(I)had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. ¹¹Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, ^(J)I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. ¹²Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³However, ^(K)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but ^(L)I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem ^(M)that I have chosen.”

¹⁴And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. ¹⁵For ^(N)when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom ¹⁶(for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom). ¹⁷But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child. ¹⁸They set out from Midian and came to ^(O)Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹But when Hadad heard in Egypt ^(P)that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” ²²But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

²³God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^(Q)Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, ^(R)after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

²⁶^(S)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(T)an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also ^(U)lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. ^(V)Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet ^(W)Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, ^(X)and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(Y)I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes ³²(but ^(Z)he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(AA)the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³because they have^[a] forsaken me ^(AB)and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. ³⁴Nevertheless, 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 David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. ³⁵^(AC)But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. ³⁶Yet to his son ^(AD)I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have ^(AE)a lamp before me in Jerusalem, ^(AF)the city where I have chosen to put my name. ³⁷And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, ^(AG)I will be with you and ^(AH)will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to ^(AI)Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

⁴¹^(AJ)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴²And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³And Solomon ^(AK)slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And ^(AL)Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam's Folly

12 ^(AM)Rehoboam went to ^(AN)Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²And as soon as ^(AO)Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(AP)he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from^[b] Egypt. ³And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴^(AQ)“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵He said to them, ^(AR)“Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. ¹¹And now, whereas ^(AS)my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”