1 Kings 11:14-25

New Century Version

Solomon’s Enemies

¹⁴ The Lord caused Hadad the Edomite, a member of the family of the king of Edom, to become Solomon’s enemy. ¹⁵ Earlier, David had defeated Edom. When Joab, the commander of David’s army, went into Edom to bury the dead, he killed all the males. ¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed in Edom for six months and killed every male in Edom. ¹⁷ At that time Hadad was only a young boy, so he ran away to Egypt with some of his father’s officers. ¹⁸ They left Midian and went to Paran, where they were joined by other men. Then they all went to Egypt to see the king, who gave Hadad a house, some food, and some land.

¹⁹ The king liked Hadad so much he gave Hadad a wife—the sister of Tahpenes, the king’s wife. ²⁰ They had a son named Genubath. Queen Tahpenes brought him up in the royal palace with the king’s own children.

²¹ While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had died and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead also. So Hadad said to the king, “Let me go; I will return to my own country.”

²² “Why do you want to go back to your own country?” the king asked. “What haven’t I given you here?”

“Nothing,” Hadad answered, “but please, let me go.”

²³ God also caused another man to be Solomon’s enemy—Rezon son of Eliada. Rezon had run away from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ After David defeated the army of Zobah, Rezon gathered some men and became the leader of a small army. They went to Damascus and settled there, and Rezon became king of Damascus. ²⁵ Rezon ruled Aram, and he hated Israel. So he was an enemy of Israel all the time Solomon was alive. Both Rezon and Hadad made trouble for Israel.