Kings III 11
1 And king Solomon was a lover of women. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And he took strange women, as well as the daughter of Pharao, Moabitish, Ammanitish women, Syrians and Idumeans, Chettites, and Amorites;
King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh's daughter, there were women from the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.
2 of the nations concerning whom the Lord forbade the children of Israel, [saying], You shall not go in to them, and they shall not come in to you, lest they turn away your hearts after their idols: Solomon clave to these in love.
They were from the nations that the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for they will undoubtedly convince you to worship their gods.” Yet Solomon because of his love for women held on to them.
He had seven hundred wives of noble birth and three hundred concubines. His wives did convince him to turn away from the Lord.
4 And it came to pass in the time of the old age of Solomon, that his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as [was] the heart of David his father. And the strange women turned away his heart after their gods. Then Solomon built a high place to Chamos the idol of Moab, and to their king the idol of the children of Ammon,
As Solomon grew old, his wives led him to follow other gods, and he did not commit himself wholeheartedly to the Lord as his father David had done.
5 and to Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians.
Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, vile god of the Ammonites.
6 And thus he acted towards all his strange wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their idols. And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he went not after the Lord, as David his father.
This was how Solomon did evil in the Lord's sight, and was not completely dedicated to the Lord as his father David was.
It was then that Solomon built a high place of worship for Chemosh, the vile god of the people of Moab, and for Molech, the vile god of the Ammonites, on a hill east of Jerusalem.
He built places of worship for all his foreign wives where they burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he turned away his heart from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared twice to him,
The Lord became angry with Solomon because he had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10 and charged him concerning this matter, by no means to go after other gods, but to take heed to do what the Lord God commanded him; neither was his heart perfect with the Lord, according to the heart of David his father.
The Lord had warned Solomon about this—that he should not worship other gods. But Solomon did not listen to the Lord's warning.
11 And the Lord said to Solomon, Because it has been thus with you, and you have not kept my commandments and my ordinances which I commanded you, I will surely rend your kingdom out of your hand, and give it to your servant.
So the Lord told him, “Since this is what you have done, and since you have not kept my agreement and my laws that I commanded, I will definitely take the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
12 Only in your days I will not do it for David your father's sake: [but] I will take it out of the hand of your son.
However, for the sake of your father David, I will not do this in your lifetime—I will take it away from your son.
13 Only I will not take away the whole kingdom: I will give one tribe to your son for David my servant's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen.
Even then I will not take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son with one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”
14 And the Lord raised up an enemy to Solomon, Ader the Idumaean, and Esrom son of Eliadae who [lived] in Raama, [and] Adadezer king of Suba his master; (and men gathered to him, and he was head of the conspiracy, and he seized on Damasec, ) and they were adversaries to Israel all the days of Solomon: and Ader the Idumaean [was] of the seed royal in Idumaea.
Then the Lord encouraged Hadad the Edomite of Edom's royal family to oppose Solomon.
15 And it happened, that while David was utterly destroying Edom, while Joab captain of the host was going to bury the dead, when they killed every male in Idumaea;
Previously, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the Israelite army had gone to bury some of his soldiers who had been killed, and had slaughtered every male in Edom.
16 (for Joab and all Israel abode there six months in Idumaea, until he utterly destroyed every male in Idumaea; )
Joab and the whole Israelite army had spent six months there destroying them all.
17 that Ader ran away, he and all the Idumaeans of the servants of his father with him; and they went into Egypt; and Ader [was then] a little child.
But Hadad and some Edomites who had been his father's officials had run away to Egypt—Hadad was just a boy at the time.
18 And there rise up men out of the city of Madiam, and they come to Pharan, and take men with them, and come to Pharao king of Egypt: and Ader went in to Pharao, and he gave him a house, and appointed him provision.
They left Midian and went to Paran. Then, along with some people from Paran, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He provided Hadad with a house and food, and also assigned him land as a gift.
19 And Ader found great favour in the sight of Pharao, and he gave him his wife's sister in marriage, the elder sister of Thekemina.
Pharaoh became very friendly with Hadad, and he gave him the sister of his own wife to marry, Queen Tahpenes' sister.
20 And the sister of Thekemina bore to him, [even] to Ader, Ganebath her son; and Thekemina brought him up in the midst of the sons of Pharao, and Ganebath was in the midst of the sons of Pharao.
She gave birth to his son called Genubath. Tahpenes brought him up in Pharaoh's palace with Pharaoh's own children.
21 And Ader heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead; and Ader said to Pharao, Let me go, and I will return to my country.
However, when news reached Hadad in Egypt that both David and Joab, the commander of the army, had died, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave and return to my own country.”
22 And Pharao said to Ader, What lack you with me? that behold! you seek to depart to your country? and Ader said to him, By all means let me go.
Pharaoh asked him, “Is there anything that you have lacked here with me that now you want to go back to your own country?” “No, there's nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please just let me go home.”
23 So Ader returned to his country; this [is] the mischief which Ader did, and he was a bitter enemy of Israel, and he reigned in the land of Edom.
God also encouraged Rezon, son of Eliada, to oppose Solomon. He had run away from his master Hadadezer, king of Zobah. After David had destroyed Zobah's army,
Rezon gathered around him a rebel band, and became their leader. They went and settled in Damascus, where they took over.
Rezon was Israel's enemy throughout Solomon's lifetime which added to the trouble Hadad caused. Rezon really hated Israel, and was the ruler of Aram.
26 And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the Ephrathite of Sarira, the son of a widow, [was] servant of Solomon.
In addition, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, rebelled against the king. One of Solomon's officials, he was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother was a widow called Zeruah.
27 And this [was] the occasion of his lifting up [his] hands against king Solomon: now king Solomon built the citadel, he completed the fortification of the city of David his father.
This is why he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces and had closed the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.
28 And the man Jeroboam was very strong; and Solomon saw the young man that he was active, and he set him over the levies of the house of Joseph.
Jeroboam was a man of ability, and when Solomon realized how successful he was in what he did, he placed him command of all the forced labor of the tribes of Joseph.
29 And it came to pass at that time, that Jeroboam went forth from Jerusalem, and Achia the Selonite the prophet found him in the way, and caused him to turn aside out of the way: and Achia was clad with a new garment, and they two [were] alone in the field.
Around that time the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as he was leaving Jerusalem.
30 And Achia laid hold of his new garment that was upon him, and tore it [into] twelve pieces:
Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were by themselves in the countryside. Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and ripped it up into twelve pieces.
31 and he said to Jeroboam, Take to yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes.
He said, “Jeroboam, take ten pieces. This is what the Lord God of Israel says. ‘Jeroboam, I am the Lord, the God of Israel, and I am going to take Solomon's kingdom from him and give you ten of the tribes.
32 Yet he shall have two tribes, for my servant David's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
One tribe will be left for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose from among all the tribes of Israel.
33 Because he forsook me, and sacrificed to Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos, and to the idols of Moab, and to their king the abomination of the children of Ammon, and he walked not in my ways, to do that which was right before me, as David his father [did].
This is because they have abandoned me and bowed down in worship of Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of the Moabites, and Molech, god of the Ammonites. They have not followed my ways; they have not done what is right in my sight; they have not kept my commandments and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.
34 Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, (for I will certainly resist him all the days of his life, ) for David my servant's sake, whom I have chosen.
Even so, I'm not going to take the whole kingdom from Solomon, because I made him ruler for his lifetime for the sake of my servant David. I chose him because he kept my commandments and laws.
35 But I will take the kingdom out of the hand of his son, and give you ten tribes.
But I will take from his son's kingdom ten tribes and give them to you.
36 But to his son I will give the two [remaining] tribes, that my servant David may have an establishment continually before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.
I will give his son one tribe, so that my servant David will always have a descendant like a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to be honored.
37 And I will take you, and you shall reign as your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
I will take you, and you shall reign over everything that you want. You will be king over Israel.
38 And it shall come to pass, if you will keep all the commandments that I shall give you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right before me, to keep my ordinances and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built to David.
If you accept everything that I command you, if you follow my ways, if you do what is right in my sight, keeping my laws and commandments as my servant David did, then I will be with you. I will set up for you a dynasty that lasts, just as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.
I will punish David's descendants because of this, but not forever.”
40 And Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam: but he arose and fled into Egypt, to Susakim king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until Solomon died.
So Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt. He remained there until Solomon's death.
41 And the rest of the history of Solomon, and all that he did, and all his wisdom, behold are not these things written in the book of the life of Solomon?
The record of the rest of the acts of Solomon, including everything he did, and his wisdom, are written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon.
42 And the days [during] which Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel [were] forty years.
Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel for a total of forty years.
43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Roboam his son reigned in his stead.
Solomon died and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
