³ Solomon ^(A)loved the Lord, ^(B)walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. ⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, ^(C)for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^5 (D)At Gibeon ^(E)the Lord appeared to Solomon ^(F)in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because ^(G)he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and ^(H)have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, ^(I)you have made your servant king in place of David my father, ^(J)although I am but a little child. I do not know ^(K)how to go out or come in. ^8 (L)And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, ^(M)too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. ^9 (N)Give your servant therefore an understanding mind ^(O)to govern your people, that I may ^(P)discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² behold, ^(Q)I now do according to your word. Behold, ^(R)I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ^13 (S)I give you also what you have not asked, ^(T)both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, ^(U)as your father David walked, then ^(V)I will lengthen your days.”

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.

Rehoboam's Folly

12 ^(A)Rehoboam went to ^(B)Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And as soon as ^(C)Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(D)he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from^[a] Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ^4 (E)“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.” ⁵ He said to them, ^(F)“Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, ^(A)“Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, ¹⁴ he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, ^(B)“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for ^(C)it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which ^(D)the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.