1 Kings 11
Solomon's wives and concubines.
1 Kings 11:1 And king Solomon loved many strange women, besides the daughter of Pharao, and women of Moab, and of Ammon, and of Edom, and of Sidon, and of the Hethites: 1 Kings 11:2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the children of Israel: You shall not go in unto them, neither shall any of them come into yours: for they will most certainly turn away your hearts to follow their gods. And to these was Solomon joined with a most ardent love. 1 Kings 11:3 And he had seven hundred wives as queens, and three hundred concubines: and the women turned away his heart.
In his old age they draw him to idolatry.
1 Kings 11:4 And when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to follow strange gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father. 1 Kings 11:5 But Solomon worshipped Astarthe, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites. 1 Kings 11:6 And Solomon did that which was not pleasing before the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as David, his father. 1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a temple for Chamos, the idol of Moab, on the hill that is over against Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the idol of the children of Ammon. 1 Kings 11:8 And he did in this manner for all his wives that were strangers, who burnt incense, and offered sacrifice to their gods.
God threateneth him.
1 Kings 11:9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his mind was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice; 1 Kings 11:10 And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow strange gods: but he kept not the things which the Lord commanded him. 1 Kings 11:11 The Lord therefore said to Solomon: Because thou hast done this, and hast not kept my covenant, and my precepts, which I have commanded thee, I will divide and rend thy kingdom, and will give it to thy servant. 1 Kings 11:12 Nevertheless, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 1 Kings 11:13 Neither will I take away the whole kingdom; but I will give one tribe to thy son, for the sake of David, my servant, and Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
Solomon's adversaries were Hadad, who was entertained in Egypt,
1 Kings 11:14 And the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Adad, the Edomite, of the king's seed, in Edom. 1 Kings 11:15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab, the general of the army, was gone up to bury them that were slain, and had killed every male in Edom, 1 Kings 11:16 (For Joab remained there six months with all Israel, till he had slain every male in Edom,) 1 Kings 11:17 Then Adad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants, with him, to go into Egypt: and Adad was then a little boy. 1 Kings 11:18 And they arose out of Madian, and came into Pharan, and they took men with them from Pharan, and went into Egypt, to Pharao, the king of Egypt: who gave him a house, and appointed him victuals, and assigned him land. 1 Kings 11:19 And Adad found great favour before Pharao, insomuch that he gave him to wife the own sister of his wife, Taphnes, the queen. 1 Kings 11:20 And the sister of Taphnes bore him his son, Genubath; and Taphnes brought him up in the house of Pharao: and Genubath dwelt with Pharao among his children. 1 Kings 11:21 And when Adad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab, the general of the army, was dead, he said to Pharao: Let me depart, that I may go to my own country. 1 Kings 11:22 And Pharao said to him: Why, what is wanting to thee with me, that thou seekest to go to thy own country? But he answered: Nothing; yet I beseech thee to let me go.
Rezon, who reigned in Damascus,
1 Kings 11:23 God also raised up against him an adversary, Razon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Adarezer, the king of Soba. 1 Kings 11:24 And he gathered men against him, and he became a captain of robbers, when David slew them of Soba: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt there, and they made him king in Damascus. 1 Kings 11:25 And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon: and this is the evil of Adad, and his hatred against Israel; and he reigned in Syria.
and Jeroboam, to whom Ahijah prophesied.
1 Kings 11:26 Jeroboam also, the son of Nabat, an Ephrathite, of Sareda, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was named Sarua, a widow woman, lifted up his hand against the king. 1 Kings 11:27 And this is the cause of his rebellion against him; for Solomon built Mello, and filled up the breach of the city of David, his father. 1 Kings 11:28 And Jeroboam was a valiant and mighty man: and Solomon seeing him a young man ingenious and industrious, made him chief over the tributes of all the house of Joseph. 1 Kings 11:29 So it came to pass at that time, that Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahias, the Silonite, clad with a new garment, found him in the way: and they two were alone in the field. 1 Kings 11:30 And Ahias taking his new garment, wherewith he was clad, divided it into twelve parts: 1 Kings 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam: Take to thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give thee ten tribes. 1 Kings 11:32 But one tribe shall remain to him for the sake of my servant, David, and Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel: 1 Kings 11:33 Because he hath forsaken me, and hath adored Astarthe, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chamos, the god of Moab, and Moloch, the god of the children of Ammon: and hath not walked in my ways, to do justice before me, and to keep my precepts, and judgments, as did David, his father. 1 Kings 11:34 Yet I will not take away all the kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, who kept my commandments, and my precepts. 1 Kings 11:35 But I will take away the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give thee ten tribes: 1 Kings 11:36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that there may remain a lamp for my servant, David, before me always in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen, that my name might be there. 1 Kings 11:37 And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign over all that thy soul desireth, and thou shalt be king over Israel. 1 Kings 11:38 If then thou wilt hearken to all that I shall command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do what is right before me, keeping my commandments and my precepts, as David, my servant, did: I will be with thee, and will build thee up a faithful house, as I built a house for David, and I will deliver Israel to thee: 1 Kings 11:39 And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but yet not for ever. 1 Kings 11:40 Solomon, therefore, sought to kill Jeroboam: but he arose, and fled into Egypt, to Sesac, the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.
Solomon's acts, reign, and death: Rehoboam succeedeth him.
1 Kings 11:41 And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did and his wisdom: behold they are all written in the book of the words of the days of Solomon. 1 Kings 11:42 And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel, were forty years. 1 Kings 11:43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David, his father; and Roboam, his son, reigned in his stead.
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