1 Kings 11:1-8

Lexham English Bible

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; ² from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites,^[a] “You shall not marry them,^[b] and they shall not marry you.^[c] They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love. ³ He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

Solomon’s Apostasy

⁴ It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father. ⁷ At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces^[d] Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.^{[e] 8} Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.