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1 Kings 11
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, besides Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. They were from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “You must not enter among them, and they must not enter among you; surely they will turn your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not whole with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because this has been with you, 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. Yet I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father. I will tear it from the hand of your son. But 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.”
Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal line in Edom. For when David was in Edom, and Joab, commander of the army, went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom. For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom. But Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites from among his father’s servants with him, to go to Egypt. Hadad was a young boy. They set out from Midian and came to Paran. From Paran they took men with them and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave him a house, assigned him food, and gave him land. Hadad found great favor in Pharaoh’s eyes, so that Pharaoh gave him as a wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen mother. The sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s house, and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among Pharaoh’s children. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David lay with his ancestors and that Joab, commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, so that I may go to my land.” But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked while you were with me, that now you seek to go to your own land?” He said, “Nothing. But please, send me away.”
God raised up another adversary against him: Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah. He gathered men around himself and became leader of a band when David killed them. They went to Damascus, settled there, and became kings in Damascus. He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the trouble that Hadad caused. He loathed Israel and reigned over Aram.
Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, was Solomon’s servant; and he raised his hand against the king. This was the reason he raised his hand against the king: Solomon built the Millo and closed the breach in the city of David his father. Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of strength. Solomon saw that the young man was diligent in his work, and he put him in charge of all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.
At that time, when Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah was wrapped in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the field. Ahijah took hold of the new cloak that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Look, I am tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and giving you ten tribes. But one tribe will remain for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. This is because they have forsaken me and bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god 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. Yet I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand, but 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. But I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give it to you—ten tribes. To his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself, to put my name there. I will take you, and you will reign over all that your soul desires, and you will be king over Israel. If you listen to all that I command you, 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. I will build for you a faithful house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.”
Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death. But Jeroboam rose up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.
Now 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? The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. Then Solomon lay with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son became king in his place.