⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. He wasn’t committed to the Lord his God with all his heart as was his father David. ⁵ Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes and wasn’t completely devoted to the Lord like his father David. ⁷ On the hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a shrine to Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and to Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹ The Lord grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from being with the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ The Lord had commanded Solomon about this very thing, that he shouldn’t follow other gods. But Solomon didn’t do what the Lord commanded.

¹¹ The Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done all this instead of keeping my covenant and my laws that I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. ¹² Even so, on account of your father David, I won’t do it during your lifetime. I will tear the kingdom out of your son’s hands. ¹³ Moreover, I won’t tear away the entire kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son on account of my servant David and on account of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

An immigrant’s daughter is delivered

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went into the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know that he had entered a house, but he couldn’t hide. ²⁵ In fact, a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard about him right away. She came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth. She begged Jesus to throw the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He responded, “The children have to be fed first. It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸ But she answered, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ “Good answer!” he said. “Go on home. The demon has already left your daughter.” ³⁰ When she returned to her house, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.