1 Kings 11
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
Solomon’s Wives and Idolatry.[a] 1 But King Solomon loved many foreign wives. In addition to Pharaoh’s daughter, there were Moabite women, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 These were from the nations about which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “You are not to go to them, nor are they to come to you, for they will surely turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives perverted his heart.
4 When Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart to serve other gods. His heart did not rest in peace with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David, his father, had. 5 He followed Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Moloch, the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not follow after the Lord completely as his father David had. 7 Solomon built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and to Moloch, the abomination of the Ammonites, on a hillside that lies to the east of Jerusalem. 8 He did the same thing for all of his foreign wives. He burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 [b]The Lord therefore became angry with Solomon for he had turned his heart away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and who had given him a command concerning this very thing, that he not follow after other gods, but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. 11 Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and you have not observed my covenant and my statutes that I had given to you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
12 “Nevertheless, I will not do this during your days, for the sake of David, your father. I will tear it out of the hands of your son. 13 I will not tear the entire kingdom away. I will give your son one tribe for the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
14 Solomon’s Adversaries. The Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad, the Edomite, who was a descendant of the kings in Edom. 15 When David had been in Edom, and Joab, the commander of the army, had gone up to bury those who had been killed, for every male had been killed in Edom 16 (for Joab and all of Israel had remained there for six months until they had killed every male in Edom), 17 Hadad had fled into Egypt along with certain Edomites who had been his father’s servants. Hadad was only a little child. 18 They came up out of Midian to Paran, and they took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who gave him a house and provided him with provisions and gave him some land.
19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him the sister of his own wife to marry, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s household. Genubath belonged to Pharaoh’s household, as if he were one of Pharaoh’s sons.
21 While he was in Egypt, he heard that David was now sleeping with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave so that I might return to my own land.” 22 Pharaoh said to him, “What have you ever been without that you seek to return to your own land?” He answered, “Nothing, but let me go anyway.”
23 God also stirred up another adversary against him, Rezon, the son of Eliada. He had fled from his lord, Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. 24 He gathered some men to himself and became the leader of a band of them when David conquered the forces of Zobah. They traveled to Damascus and dwelt there, reigning in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary of Israel all through Solomon’s time, adding to the difficulties caused by Hadad. He ruled in Aram and despised Israel.
26 Jeroboam’s Kingship Predicted. There was a certain Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother was a widow whose name was Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. 27 This is how he rebelled against the king: Solomon built Millo and repaired the breaches in the wall of the City of David, his father. 28 Jeroboam was an impressive man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was capable, he placed him in charge of the whole component of forced labor of the house of Joseph.
29 [c]When Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, he was met along the way by Ahijah, the Shilonite, who was a prophet. He was wearing a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah grabbed the new garment that he was wearing and he tore it into twelve pieces. 31 He then said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and I will give you ten tribes. 32 One tribe will remain for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen from out of the tribes of Israel.
33 “ ‘This is because he has abandoned me and he has worshiped Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Moloch, the god of the Ammonites. He has not walked in my paths, doing what was right in my sight by observing my statutes and ordinances as David, his father, did. 34 But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hands. I will keep him as ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David, my servant, whom I chose, for he observed my commandments and my statutes, 35 but I will take it out of his son’s hands. I will then give you ten of the tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David, my servant, might have a light before me always in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for my name.
37 “ ‘I will take you, and you will reign over all that your heart desires. You will be the king over Israel. 38 If you listen to all that I have commanded you and you walk in my ways and you do what is right in my sight, observing my statutes and my commandments, as David, my servant, did, then I will be with you and I will build a secure dynasty for you just as I built one for David. I will give you Israel. 39 I will humble the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’ ”
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, so Jeroboam rose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak, the king of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon had died.
41 Solomon’s Death. As for the rest of Solomon’s deeds and the wisdom that he demonstrated, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel for forty years. 43 Solomon then slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David, his father. Rehoboam, his son, then ruled in his stead.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 11:1 For all his wisdom, Solomon’s weakness for women is his downfall. He disregards God’s command not to marry foreign women, and by aligning himself with so many heathen women, he eventually turns away from the true God.
- 1 Kings 11:9 The slippery slope for Solomon into idolatry and sin took some time and several outright acts of disobedience on his part. Despite the warnings and threats from the Lord, he continued his downward spiral, losing God and everything he had been given in abundance.
- 1 Kings 11:29 Jeroboam is given the heads up by the prophet Ahijah that he will inherit 10 of Israel’s 12 tribes. Benjamin and Judah—often referred to as one tribe—would remain loyal to David—King Solomon’s father.
