1 Kings, Chapter 11:

Verses from 1 Kings, Chapter 11 of the book of 1 Kings of the Bible.

1 Kings - Old Testament — 1 Kings – Old Testament

Solomon's women

1. King Solomon loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter. They were Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women.
2. These were the nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “Do not marry them, for they will certainly turn your hearts to follow their gods.” However, Solomon clung to them in love.
3. He had seven hundred chief wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
4. As Solomon grew older, his wives led him to follow other gods, and his heart was no longer fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father, David, had been.
5. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the disgusting god of the Ammonites.
6. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord, as his father David had done.
7. On the mountain east of Jerusalem, Solomon built altars to Chemosh, the loathsome god of Moab, and to Molech, the loathsome god of the Ammonites.
8. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9. Then the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not obey him.
11. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have acted in this way and have not kept my covenant and the decrees I commanded you, I will certainly take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.
12. However, for the sake of your father David, I will not do this during your reign. I will take the kingdom from your son's hand.
13. I will not take away the whole kingdom, but I will give a tribe to his son for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”

Solomon's adversaries

14. The Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, of the royal lineage of Edom.
15. Before the Israelites defeated Edom, Joab, commander of the army, had gone up to bury the dead and killed all the men of Edom.
16. (Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until they eliminated all the men of Edom.)
17. Hadad and some Edomites, who were his father's servants, escaped and went to Egypt. Hadad was still a child.
18. They left Midian and went to Paran. They took with them men from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, food and land.
19. Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him his own wife's sister, the sister of Queen Taphnes, in marriage.
20. Tahphnes' sister gave birth to their son Genubat, whom Tahphnes raised in the royal palace. Genubate was in the royal palace with Pharaoh's sons.
21. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my country.”
22. But Pharaoh asked him, “What don’t you have here that makes you want to return to your country?” “I lack nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go!”
23. And God raised up another adversary against Solomon: Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer, king of Zobah.
24. When David defeated Zobah, Rezon gathered men and became leader of a band of marauders. They went to Damascus, settled there and began to dominate the city.
25. Rezon was Israel's adversary throughout Solomon's reign, in addition to bringing problems to it, just like Hadad. He ruled Aram and was an enemy of Israel.

Jeroboam rebels against Solomon

26. Jeroboam the son of Nebat also went against the king. He was an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.
27. This was the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon was building Millo and was closing the breach in the city of David his father.
28. Now Jeroboam was a capable man, and Solomon, seeing that the young man was a worker, put him in charge of all the forced labor of Joseph's descendants.
29. One day, Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the way. Ahijah was dressed in a new robe, and the two of them were alone in the field.
30. Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
31. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I will take the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes.
32. But he will have one tribe, for the sake of David my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.
33. I will do this because they abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chamos, the god of the Moabites, and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. They have not followed my ways or done what is right in my eyes; they did not obey my decrees and my ordinances, as David, Solomon's father, did.
34. But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I made him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David, my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commandments and my decrees.
35. I will take the kingdom out of your son's hands and give you the ten tribes.
36. I will give a tribe to your son, so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my name.
37. But I will make you reign over everything you wish; you will be king of Israel.
38. If you do everything I command you, walk in my ways, do what is right in my eyes, and obey my commandments and my decrees, as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty, just as I built it for David, and I will give Israel to you.
39. I will humiliate David's descendants because of this, but not forever.'
40. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and remained there until Solomon's death.

Solomon's death

41. The other events of Solomon's reign, everything he did and the wisdom he possessed, are written in Solomon's historical records.
42. Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
31. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David his father. And his son Rehoboam was his successor.