1 Kings 11
1 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].
Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
2 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!”
The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love.
3 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].
He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away.
4 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.
For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.
5 Solomon worshiped Astarte, the goddess that the people of Sidon [worshiped], and he worshiped Molech, the disgusting god that the Ammon people-group [worshiped].
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites.
6 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.
And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did.
7 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].
Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon.
8 He also built places where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to the gods from their own countries.
And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.
9 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,
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision;
And had given him orders about this very thing, that he was not to go after other gods; but he did not keep the orders of the Lord.
11 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.
So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept my agreement and my laws, which I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant.
12 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].
I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son.
13 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].”
Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection.
14 Yahweh caused Hadad, from the family of the kings in the Edom people-group, to rebel against Solomon.
So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom.
15 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.
And when David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had gone to put the dead into the earth, and had put to death every male in Edom;
(For Joab and all Israel were there six months till every male in Edom had been cut off; )
17 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.
Hadad, being still a young boy, went in flight to Egypt, with certain Edomites, servants of his father;
18 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.
And they went on from Midian and came to Paran; and, taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and gave orders for his food and gave him land.
19 The king liked Hadad. As a result he gave him the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad’s wife.
Now Hadad was very pleasing to Pharaoh, so that he gave him the sister of his wife, Tahpenes the queen, for his wife.
20 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.
And the sister of Tahpenes had a son by him, Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was living in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons.
21 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.”
Now when Hadad had news in Egypt that David had been put to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Send me back to my country.
22 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].
But Pharaoh said to him, What have you been short of while you have been with me, that you are desiring to go back to your country? And he said, Nothing; but even so, send me back.
23 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].
And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah:
24 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.
He got some men together and made himself captain of a band of outlaws; and went to Damascus and became king there.
25 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.
He was a trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. And this is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom.
26 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.
And there was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow; and his hand was lifted up against the king.
27 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].
The way in which his hand came to be lifted up against the king was this: Solomon was building the Millo and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David;
28 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.
And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph.
29 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,
Now at that time, when Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road; now Ahijah had put on a new robe; and the two of them were by themselves in the open country.
30 which he took off and tore into twelve pieces.
And Ahijah took his new robe in his hands, parting it violently into twelve.
31 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].
And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten of the parts, for this is what the Lord has said: See, I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force, and will give ten tribes to you;
32 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].
(But one tribe will be his, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town which, out of all the tribes of Israel, I have made mine, )
33 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.
Because they are turned away from me to the worship of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites; they have not been walking in my ways or doing what is right in my eyes or keeping my laws and my decisions as his father David did.
34 ‘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.
But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws.
35 But I will take the [other] ten tribes of his kingdom and give them to you [to rule].
But I will take the kingdom from his son, and give it to you.
36 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].
And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there.
37 I will enable you to become the king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want to.
And you I will take, and you will be king over Israel, ruling over whatever is the desire of your soul.
38 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.
And if you give attention to the orders I give you, walking in my ways and doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my laws and my orders as David my servant did; then I will be with you, building up for you a safe house, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.
39 Because of [Solomon’s sins], I will punish David’s descendants, but I will not continue to punish them forever.’”
(So that I may send trouble for this on the seed of David, but not for ever.)
40 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.
And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.
41 [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.
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all he did, and his wisdom, are they not recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon?
42 He was the king in Jerusalem who ruled over all of Israel for 40 years.
And the time Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 Then Solomon died [EUP], and was buried in the [part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. And his son Rehoboam became the king.
And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father: and Solomon went to rest with his fathers and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.
