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1 Kings 11:1-43 — Solomon's Wives; Adversaries; Death

1Kgs.11.1-43

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. ²They were from the nations about which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “You shall not go in among them, and they shall not come in among you, for surely they will turn your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. ³He had seven hundred wives of royal rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰He had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. ¹¹Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because 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. ¹²Yet I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father. From the hand of your son I will tear it away. ¹³However, 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.” ¹⁴Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal line in Edom. ¹⁵For when David was in Edom, after Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom. ¹⁶For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom. ¹⁷But Hadad fled to Egypt, he and some Edomite men from his father’s servants with him, when Hadad was still a little boy. ¹⁸They set out from Midian and came to Paran; they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, assigned him food, and gave him land. ¹⁹Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath, and Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s house. So Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had lain down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, that I may go to my own land.” ²²But Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to go to your own land?” And he said, “Nothing; nevertheless, please let me go.” ²³And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴He gathered men to himself and became captain of a band after David had struck them down. They went to Damascus, settled there, and reigned in Damascus. ²⁵He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, in addition to the trouble caused by Hadad. He detested Israel and reigned over Aram. ²⁶Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, was a servant of Solomon; and he also lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and had closed the breach in the city of David his father. ²⁸Now the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And at that time, when Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, Ahijah the Shilonite, the prophet, found him on the road. Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. ³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. ³²But one tribe shall remain for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess 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. ³⁴Yet I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes. ³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—ten tribes. ³⁶And 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. ³⁷And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸And it shall be, if you 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 will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰Then Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon. ⁴¹Now 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? ⁴²And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³Then Solomon died and was gathered to his fathers , and he was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

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4/11/2026

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