1 Kings 11:1-43
11 * And King Solomon loved women, and had seven hundred queens and three hundred concubines; and he took many foreign wives, Moabite, ʽAmmonite, Edomite, Phenician, Hittite,
2 out of the nations of which Jehovah said to the sons of Israel “You shall not go among them nor have them come among you, lest they bend your hearts to follow their gods”—Solomon consorted with those in love.
3 ——
4 And at the time of Solomon’s old age his wives bent his heart to follow other gods, and his heart was not at one with his God Jehovah like his father David’s heart;
5 * and Solomon went after ʽAshtart the goddess of the Phenicians and Milcom the god of the ʽAmmonites,
6 and Solomon did what displeased Jehovah, and did not altogether follow Jehovah like his father David.
7 Then Solomon built a height for Kemosh the god of Moab on the mountain in front of Jerusalem, and for Milcom the god of the Bene-ʽAmmon;
8 * and so for all his foreign wives he made burning-places and altars for their gods.
9 And Jehovah was angered with Solomon because he had bent his heart away from Israel’s God Jehovah, who had appeared to him twice
10 and had given him orders about this matter, not to follow other gods, and he had not obeyed the orders Jehovah had given him.
11 And Jehovah said to Solomon “Since you have been thus minded, and have not kept my covenant and usages which I commanded you, I will tear the kingship off you and give it to your slave.
12 I will not do it in your time though, for the sake of your father David. I will take it out of your son’s hands;
13 only I will not tear away all the kingship, I will give your son one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
14 —And Hadad the Edomite: he was of the royal blood in Edom,
15 and when David made havoc of the Edomites, when General Joab went up to bury the slain and killed every male in Edom
16 (for Joab and all Israel stayed there six months, till they had made away with every male in Edom)
17 Hadad fled away, he and certain Edomites with him, officers of his father’s, to go to Egypt, Hadad being a small boy;
18 and they left Midian and came to Paran, and took men with them out of Paran, and came into Egypt, to the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt; and he gave him a house and appointed him an allowance of bread, and gave him land.
19 And the Pharaoh showed Hadad very much favor, and he gave him a wife, his own wife’s sister, the sister of Queen Tahminas,
20 and Tahminas’s sister became the mother of his son Genubath, whom Tahminas brought up in the Pharaoh’s family; and Genubath was in the Pharaoh’s palace among the Egyptian princes.
21 And Hadad heard in Egypt that David had gone to rest with his fathers and that General Joab was dead; and Hadad said to the Pharaoh “Give me leave to go to my own country.”
22 And the Pharaoh said to him “Why, what are you stinted for with me? and here you are wanting to go to your own country.” But he said “No, do give me leave”; and Hadad went back to his own country. . . .
23 * And Jehovah raised up an antagonist to Solomon, Rezon the son of Eljadaʽ, who had fled away from his sovereign King Hadadʽezer of Soba,
24 ** and men had gathered around him and he had become the captain of a band of raiders, when David was killing them; and he took Damascus and lived in it and became king at Damascus,
25 * and was an adversary to Israel throughout Solomon’s time. This is the mischief Hadad did; and he bore Israel a grudge, and became king over Edom.
26 —And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Sereda, a widow’s son, an officer of Solomon’s who raised his hand against the king.
27 And this was the occasion on which he raised his hand against the king: Solomon built the Millo, closed up the breach in the fortifications of his father David’s city;
28 and this Jeroboam was an energetic man, and Solomon saw that the young fellow was efficient and appointed him over all the porterage of the line of Joseph.
29 And at that time Jeroboam had gone out of Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road, he having a new cloak about him and the two being alone out in the country;
30 and Ahijah seized the new cloak he had on and tore it in twelve pieces,
31 * and said to Jeroboam “Take ten pieces for yourself; for Jehovah the God of Israel says ‘I am tearing the kingship out of Solomon’s hands and giving you ten tribes
32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),
33 * since he has left me and done reverence to ʽAshtart the goddess of the Phenicians and to Kemosh the god of the Moabites and to Milcom the god of the Bene-ʽAmmon, and not walked in my ways, doing what I approve and living up to my usages and laws like his father David.
34 But I will not take all the kingship out of his hands, but install him as prince all his lifetime for the sake of my servant David whom I chose, who kept my commandments and usages;
35 but I will take the kingship out of his son’s hands and give it to you, the ten tribes,
36 and to his son I will give one tribe in order that through all time my servant David may have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen for myself, to put my name there.
37 And you I will take and you shall reign with absolute power and be king over Israel.
38 And if you listen to all that I command you, and walk in my ways and do what I approve, keeping my usages and commandments as my servant David did, I will be with you and build you a secure house, as I did for David.’”
39 ——
40 * And Solomon meant to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam got away to Egypt, to Shoshak the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till Solomon’s death.
41 And as to the rest of Solomon’s history, and all that he did, and his wisdom, it is recorded in the History of Solomon.
42 And the time that Solomon was king at Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 * And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.
Footnotes
^ 11:1 Codd. wives, and Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabites, ‘Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites
^ 11:5-7 (goddess, god) Codd. disgust
^ 11:8 Codd. so he did for all his wives, the foreigners made burnings and sacrificed
^ 11:23 Var. Hesron
^ 11:24 Var. he had gathered men
^ 11:24 Var. they went to Damascus and lived in it and had a kingdom at Damascus; and he was
^ 11:25 Var. has verses 23-24 and the first part of 25 here instead of between 13 and 14
^ 11:31 Conj. eleven pieces . . . eleven tribes
^ 11:33 Lit. without living up to
^ 11:40 Var. he got away
^ 11:43 Var. David’s city; and when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt as he had fled away from Solomon and settled in Egypt, heard, that Solomon was dead, he went straight (conj. he went back) and came to his own city Seredah in the highland of Ephraim. And King Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and his son
