Solomon’s Forbidden Marriages and Idolatry^(A)

11 But King Solomon married^[a] many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidonia, along with Hittite women, too, ² all of them from nations that the Lord had ordered the Israelis, “You are not to associate with^[b] them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections^[c] away to follow their gods.” Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love. ³ He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses^[d] who^[e] turned his heart away from the Lord,^{[f] 4} because as Solomon grew older, his wives turned his affections away after other gods, and his heart was not fully as devoted to the Lord his God as his father David’s heart had been. ⁵ Solomon pursued Astarte, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, that detestable Ammonite idol. ⁶ Solomon practiced what the Lord considered to be evil by not fully following the Lord, as had his father David. ⁷ Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. ⁸ Solomon^[g] did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods.