1 Kings 11

¹ King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women—

² from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not go among them, and they must not come among you, for they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

³ He had seven hundred wives of royal rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

⁴ When Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his father had been.

⁵ Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites.

⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD as David his father had done.

⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.

⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹ The LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice—

¹⁰ and had commanded him about this very thing, not to follow other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹ So the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this and have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.

¹² Nevertheless, I will not do it in your lifetime, for the sake of David your father. I will tear it from the hand of your son.

¹³ Yet I will not tear away the whole kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

¹⁴ Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

¹⁵ Earlier, when David was in Edom and Joab the army commander had gone up to bury the slain and had struck down every male in Edom—

¹⁶ for Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months until they had cut off every male in Edom—

¹⁷ Hadad fled, along with some Edomite men from his father's servants, to go to Egypt. Hadad was a young boy at the time.

¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, assigned him food, and gave him land.

¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in Pharaoh's sight, and Pharaoh gave him the sister of his own wife as a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath, and Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh's palace. Genubath lived in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹ When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his ancestors and that Joab the army commander was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, so I may return to my own land."

²² Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me that you are now seeking to go to your own land?" He said, "Nothing, but please let me go."

²³ God also raised up an adversary against him: Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴ He had gathered men to himself and became captain of a raiding band when David slaughtered them. They went to Damascus and settled there, and he reigned in Damascus.

²⁵ He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad caused. He loathed Israel and reigned over Aram.

²⁶ Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah—his mother's name was Zeruah, a widow—was a servant of Solomon, yet he raised his hand against the king.

²⁷ This is the account of how he raised his hand against the king: Solomon was building the Millo and closing up the breach of the city of David his father.

²⁸ The man Jeroboam was a mighty warrior, and Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, so he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country.

³⁰ Ahijah took hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ He said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.

³² But he will have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³ This is because they have abandoned me and bowed down to Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh the god of Moab, and to Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my statutes and my judgments, as David his father did.

³⁴ Yet I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.

³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you—ten tribes.

³⁶ To his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.'

³⁷ "And you—I will take you, and you will reign over all that your soul desires, and you will be king over Israel.

³⁸ If you listen to all that I command you and walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you and build you a lasting house, just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹ I will humble the descendants of David because of this, but not forever."

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and stayed in Egypt until Solomon's death.

⁴¹ As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did and his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

⁴² The time Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

⁴³ Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.