1 Kings 11

11 ¹ Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations about which our Father had said to the children of Israel, "You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, for they will surely turn your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to our Father, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of our Father and did not wholly follow our Father, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁸ And he did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

The Father's Grief over Solomon

⁹ And our Father became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from our Father, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this very thing, that he should not follow other gods. But he did not keep what our Father had commanded.

¹¹ Therefore our Father said to Solomon, "Since this has been your way, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. ¹² Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Still, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

The Father Raises Up Hadad

¹⁴ Then our Father raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom. ¹⁵ For when David was at war with Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he had struck down every male in Edom. ¹⁶ (Joab and all Israel stayed there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom.) ¹⁷ But Hadad fled to Egypt, he and certain Edomites among his father's servants with him, Hadad being still a young boy. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to Paran; they took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, assigned him food, and gave him land. ¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in Pharaoh's sight, so he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath lived in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons. ²¹ But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, he said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country."

²² Pharaoh said to him, "What have you lacked with me, that now you seek to go to your own country?" And he replied, "Nothing, but please let me go."

The Father Raises Up Rezon

²³ Our Father also raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ He gathered men around him and became the leader of a raiding band, after David killed the men of Zobah. They went to Damascus, settled there, and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵ Rezon was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, adding to the harm that Hadad did; he loathed Israel and reigned over Aram.

Jeroboam Lifts His Hand

²⁶ Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was a widow named Zeruah, also lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷ And this is the account of how he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and closed up the breach in the city of David his father. ²⁸ The man Jeroboam was very capable, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker, he put him in charge of all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ About that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰ Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what our Father, the God of Israel, says: 'Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes. ³² But one tribe will remain his, 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 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.

³⁴ Yet I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but will keep him as 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 But I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give it to you—ten tribes. ³⁶ Yet 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 place my name. ¹ 1 v36 Even in judgment, our Father keeps a lamp burning for David's line—the unbroken light he is guarding all the way to Jesus, the Son of David in whom that line never goes dark. ³⁷ And I will take you, and you will reign over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you will 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 sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever."

⁴⁰ Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon Rests with His Fathers

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 that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ Then Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.