1 Kings 11

1 And king Solomon was a lover of women. He had seven hundred wives of ruling rank, and three hundred concubines. And he took foreign women — the daughter of Pharaoh, and Moabite and Ammonite women, Aramean and Edomite, Hittite and Amorite women, [a] 2 from the nations about which the Lord had forbidden the children of Israel, saying, “You are not to go in to them, and they are not to come in to you, or they will turn your hearts aside after their idols.” To these Solomon clung, and loved them.

4 And it happened, in the time of Solomon’s old age, that his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been; and the foreign women turned his heart aside after their gods. [c] † 5 Then Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the idol of Moab, and to their king, the idol of the sons of Ammon, [d] 6 and to Astarte, the detestable thing of the Sidonians. [e] 7 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their idols. 8 And Solomon did what was evil before the Lord: he did not go after the Lord, as David his father had.

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he had turned his heart aside from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had given him a command about this very matter — that he was not to go after other gods at all, but to keep and do what the Lord God commanded him. [f] 11 And the Lord said to Solomon, “Because it has been like this with you, and you have not kept my commands and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom out of your hand and give it to your slave. 12 Only, in your days I will not do it, for the sake of David your father; I will take it out of the hand of your son. 13 Only, I will not take the whole kingdom: I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my slave David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose.” [g]

14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite; and Esrom son of Eliada, who was in Raemmath — Hadadezer king of Zobah was his master. Men gathered to him, and he became the leader of a band, and he seized Damascus. And they were adversaries to Israel all the days of Solomon. And Hadad the Edomite was of the royal seed in Edom. [h]

15 And it happened, when David was destroying Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the fallen, that they struck down every male in Edom — 16 for Joab and all Israel stayed there six months in Edom, until he had destroyed every male out of Edom — 17 that Hadad ran away, he and all the men of Edom who were his father’s servants with him, and they went into Egypt. And Hadad was a little boy. 18 And men rose up out of the city of Midian and came to Paran, and they took men with them and came to Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Hadad went in to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh gave him a house and assigned him bread.

19 And Hadad found great favor before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the elder sister of Thekemina. [j] 20 And the sister of Thekemina bore to Hadad her son Genubath; and Thekemina brought him up among the sons of Pharaoh, and Genubath lived among the sons of Pharaoh.

21 And Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. And Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, and I will return to my own land.” 22 And Pharaoh said to Hadad, “What do you lack with me? Look — you are seeking to go away to your own land.” And Hadad said to him, “Only this: that you send me away — send me away indeed.” And Hadad returned to his own land. [k]

25 This is the harm that Hadad did: he was bitter against Israel, and he reigned in the land of Edom.

26 And Jeroboam son of Nebat, the Ephrathite from Zeredah, the son of a widow, was Solomon’s slave. [l] 27 And this is how it came about that he lifted up his hands against king Solomon: Solomon built the citadel, and closed up the wall of the city of David his father. [m] 28 And the man Jeroboam was strong in power; and Solomon saw the young man, that he was a man who got work done, and he set him over the labor levies of the house of Joseph. [n]

29 And it happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet found him on the road and turned him aside out of the road. Ahijah was wrapped in a new cloak, and the two of them were in the open field. 30 And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces, 31 and he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. 32 And two tribes will be his, for the sake of my slave David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, 33 because he left me and sacrificed to Astarte the detestable thing of the Sidonians, and to Chemosh and the idols of Moab, and to their king, the loathsome thing of the sons of Ammon, and he did not walk in my ways, to do what is right before me, as David his father did.

34 And I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I will surely set myself against him all the days of his life, for the sake of my slave David, whom I chose. [o] 35 And I will take the kingdom out of the hand of his son, and I will give you the ten tribes, 36 and to his son I will give the two tribes, so that there may be a standing for my slave David all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself, to put my name there. [p] 37 And I will take you, and you will reign over all that your soul desires, and you will be king over Israel. 38 And it will be, if you keep everything I command you, and walk in my ways, and do what is right before me, keeping my commands and my decrees, as David my slave did — then I will be with you, and I will build you a house that stands, as I built for David.” [q]

40 And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death; but he rose up and ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and he stayed in Egypt until Solomon died. 41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and everything he did, and all his discernment — are these things not written in the book of the words of Solomon? [r] 42 And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years.

43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father. And when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it — he being still in Egypt, where he had fled from the face of Solomon and had settled — he set out straight and came to his own city, to the land of Zeredah in the hill country of Ephraim. And king Solomon slept with his fathers, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. [s]