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 married many foreign women. First he married the daughter of the king of Egypt. He also married women from the Heth people-group and from the Moab, Ammon, and Edom people-groups, and from Sidon [city].
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.
He married them even though Yahweh had commanded the Israeli people, “Do not marry people from those areas, because if you do that, they will surely persuade you [IDM] to worship the gods that they worship!”
Solomon married 700 women who were kings’ daughters. He also had 300 wives who were his slaves/servants. And his wives caused him to turn away [from worshiping God].
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,
By the time that Solomon became old, they had persuaded him to worship the gods from their countries. He was not completely dedicated/committed to Yahweh his God like his father [SYN] David had been.
5 and to Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians.
Solomon worshiped Astarte, the goddess that the people of Sidon [worshiped], and he worshiped Molech, the disgusting god that the Ammon people-group [worshiped].
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.
That’s how Solomon did things that Yahweh said were evil. He did not conduct his life like his father David had done; he did not conduct his life as Yahweh wanted him to.
On the hill to the east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god that the Moab people-group [worshiped], and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god that the Ammon people-group [worshiped].
He also built places where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to the gods from their own countries.
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,
Even though Yahweh, the God whom the Israelis [worshiped], had appeared to Solomon two times, and had commanded him to not worship foreign gods, Solomon refused to obey Yahweh. So Yahweh was angry with Solomon,
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.
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.
and said to him, “You have chosen to break the agreement that I made with you and to disobey what I commanded you. So I am surely not going to allow you to rule all of your kingdom. I am going to allow one of your officials to rule it.
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.
But, because of [what I promised] your father David, I will allow you to rule all your kingdom while you are still [living]. [After you die], I will not allow your son to rule the whole kingdom [MTY].
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.
But I will not take all the kingdom away from him. Instead, I will allow him to rule one tribe [besides the tribe of Judah], because of what I promised to David, who served me [well], and because [I want David’s descendants to rule in] Jerusalem, [where my temple is located].”
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.
Yahweh caused Hadad, from the family of the kings in the Edom people-group, to rebel against 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;
What happened was that previously, when David’s [army] had conquered the Edom people-group, his army commander Joab had gone there to [help] bury the [Israeli soldiers] who had been killed [in the battle]. Joab and his army remained in the Edom area for six months, and during that time they killed all the males of that area.
16 (for Joab and all Israel abode there six months in Idumaea, until he utterly destroyed every male in Idumaea; )
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.
Hadad was a young child [at that time], and he had escaped to Egypt, along with some of his father’s servants from the Edom area.
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 [went to the] Midian [region], and then they went to [the desert area at] Paran. Some other men joined them there. Then they all traveled to Egypt and went to see the king of Egypt. The king gave Hadad some land and ordered his servants to give him some food regularly.
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.
The king liked Hadad. As a result he gave him the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad’s wife.
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.
Later Hadad’s wife gave birth to a son named Genubath. The sister of Tahpenes (raised him/brought him up) in the palace, where he lived with the king’s sons.
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.
While Hadad was in Egypt, he heard that David had died [EUP], and that Joab, the commander of David’s army, was also dead. So he said to the king of Egypt, “Please allow me to 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.
But the king said to him, “Why do you want to go back to your country? Is there something that you lack that you want me to give to you?” Hadad replied, “No, but please just allow me to go.” [So the king allowed him to leave, and he returned to his own country and became the king of Edom].
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 caused another man named Rezon, the son of Eliada, to rebel against Solomon. Rezon had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of [the] Zobah [area north of Damascus].
Rezon then became the leader of a group of outlaws. That happened after David’s [army had defeated Hadadezer and] had [also] killed all [his soldiers]. Rezon and his men went to Damascus and started to live there, and [the people there] appointed him to be their king.
All during the time that Solomon was alive, while Rezon was ruling [not only Damascus but all of] Syria, he was an enemy of Israel and caused trouble for Israel like Hadad did.
26 And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the Ephrathite of Sarira, the son of a widow, [was] servant of Solomon.
Another man who rebelled against [IDM] Solomon was one of his officials named Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. He was from Zeredah [town] in [the region where the tribe of] Ephraim [lives]. His mother was a widow named 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 what happened. Solomon’s workers were filling in the land/ground on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the walls [around the city].
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 very capable young man. So, when Solomon saw that he worked very hard, he appointed him to supervise all the men who were forced to work in the areas where the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim live.
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.
One day when Jeroboam was walking alone along the road outside of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh [city] met him. Ahijah was wearing a new robe,
30 And Achia laid hold of his new garment that was upon him, and tore it [into] twelve pieces:
which he took off and tore 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 to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces for yourself, because Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship], says to you, ‘I am going to tear the kingdom from Solomon, and I am going to enable you to become the ruler of ten of the tribes [of Israel].
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.
Solomon’s [descendants] will still rule one tribe (OR, two tribes), because of [what I promised] David, a man who served me [very well], and because of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen from all the cities in Israel [to be the city where my people will worship me].
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].
I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has been worshiping Astarte, the goddess that the people of Sidon worship, Chemosh, the god that the Moab people-group worship, and Milcom, the god that the Ammon people-group worship. He has not conducted his life as I wanted him to. He has not obeyed my statutes and laws, like his father David 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.
‘But I will not take the entire kingdom away from him. I will enable him to rule [Judah] all during the years that he is alive. I will do that because of [what I promised to do for] David, whom I chose [to be the king], and who served me [well], and who always obeyed 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 the [other] ten tribes of his kingdom and give them to you [to rule].
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 allow Solomon’s son to rule one tribe, in order that descendants [MET] of David will always rule in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen to be the place where [my people worship] me [MTY].
37 And I will take you, and you shall reign as your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
I will enable you to become the king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want to.
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 obey all that I command you to do, and conduct your life as I want you to, and if you do what I say is right by obeying my laws and commandments like David did, I will help you. I will make sure that your descendants will rule after you [die], like I [promised to] do for David.
Because of [Solomon’s sins], I will punish David’s descendants, but I will not continue to punish them 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.
Solomon [found out what Ahijah told Jeroboam], so he tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam escaped and went to Egypt. He went to Shishak, the king of Egypt, and stayed with him until after Solomon died.
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?
[A record of] all the other things that Solomon did, and all the wise things that he [said and wrote], was written in the Book Telling what Solomon Did.
42 And the days [during] which Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel [were] forty years.
He was the king in Jerusalem who ruled over all of Israel for 40 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.
Then Solomon died [EUP], and was buried in the [part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. And his son Rehoboam became the king.
