1 Kings 11

₁Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. ₂He married them even though the LORD had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods. ₃Solomon married 700 princesses and also had 300 concubines. They made him turn away from God ₄and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the LORD his God, as his father David had been. ₅He worshipped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. ₆He sinned against the LORD and was not true to him as his father David had been. ₇On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. ₈He also built places of worship where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

_9-10Even though the LORD, the God of Israel, had appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to worship foreign gods, Solomon did not obey the LORD, but turned away from him. So the LORD was angry with Solomon ₁₁and said to him, “Because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me and disobeyed my commands, I promise that I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officials. ₁₂However, for the sake of your father David I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the reign of your son. ₁₃And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own.”

₁₄So the LORD caused Hadad, of the royal family of Edom, to turn against Solomon. _15-16Long before this, when David had conquered Edom, Joab the commander of his army had gone there to bury the dead. He and his men remained in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every male in Edom ₁₇except Hadad and some of his father's Edomite servants, who escaped to Egypt. (At that time Hadad was just a child.) ₁₈They left Midian and went to Paran, where some other men joined them. Then they travelled to Egypt and went to the king, who gave Hadad some land and a house and provided him with food. ₁₉Hadad won the friendship of the king, and the king gave his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to Hadad in marriage. ₂₀She bore him a son, Genubath, who was brought up by the queen in the palace, where he lived with the king's sons.

₂₁When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king, “Let me go back to my own country.”

₂₂“Why?” the king asked. “Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?”

“Just let me go,” Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country.

As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.

₂₃God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, ₂₄and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. (This happened after David had defeated Hadadezer and had slaughtered his Syrian allies.) Rezon and his men went and lived in Damascus, where his men made him king of Syria. ₂₅He was an enemy of Israel during the lifetime of Solomon.

₂₆Another man who turned against King Solomon was one of his officials, Jeroboam son of Nebat, from Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. ₂₇This is the story of the revolt.

Solomon was filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the city walls. ₂₈Jeroboam was an able young man, and when Solomon noticed how hard he worked, he put him in charge of all the forced labour in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. ₂₉One day, as Jeroboam was travelling from Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah, from Shiloh, met him alone on the road in the open country. ₃₀Ahijah took off the new robe he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, ₃₁and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, ‘I am going to take the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. ₃₂Solomon will keep one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be my own from the whole land of Israel. ₃₃I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshipped foreign gods: Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon has disobeyed me; he has done wrong, and has not kept my laws and commands as his father David did. ₃₄But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon, and I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. ₃₅I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes, ₃₆but I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe, so that I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshipped. ₃₇Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want. ₃₈If you obey me completely, live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did, I will always be with you. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. ₃₉Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not for all time.’ ”

₄₀And so Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death.

₄₁Everything else that Solomon did, his career and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. ₄₂He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ₄₃He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.