1 Bvt King Salomon loued many outlandish women: both the daughter of Pharaoh, and the women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zidon and Heth, 2 Of the nations, whereof the Lord had sayd vnto the children of Israel, Goe not ye in to them, nor let them come in to you: for surely they will turne your hearts after their gods, to them, I say, did Salomon ioyne in loue. 3 And he had seuen hundreth wiues, that were princesses, and three hundreth concubines, and his wiues turned away his heart. 4 For when Salomon was olde, his wiues turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of Dauid his father. 5 For Salomon followed Ashtaroth the god of the Zidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Salomon wrought wickednesse in the sight of the Lord, but continued not to follow the Lord, as did Dauid his father. 7 Then did Salomon build an hie place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mountaine that is ouer against Ierusalem, and vnto Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 And so did he for all his outlandish wiues, which burnt incense and offered vnto their gods. 9 Therefore the Lord was angry with Salomon, because hee had turned his heart from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared vnto him twise, 10 And had giuen him a charge concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods: but he kept not that, which the Lord had commanded him. 11 Wherefore the Lord sayd vnto Salomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my couenant, and my statutes (which I commanded thee) I will surely rent the kingdome from thee, and will giue it to thy seruant. 12 Notwithstanding in thy dayes I will not doe it, because of Dauid thy father, but I will rent it out of the hand of thy sonne: 13 Howbeit I wil not rent all the Kingdome, but will giue one tribe to thy sonne, because of Dauid my seruant, and because of Ierusalem which I haue chosen. 14 Then the Lord stirred vp an aduersarie vnto Salomon, euen Hadad the Edomite, of the Kings seede, which was in Edom. 15 For when Dauid was in Edom, and Ioab the captaine of the hoste had smitten all the males in Edom, and was gone vp to bury ye slaine, 16 (For six moneths did Ioab remaine there, and all Israel, till he had destroyed all the males in Edom) 17 Then this Hadad fled and certaine other Edomites of his fathers seruants with him, to goe into Egypt, Hadad being yet a litle childe. 18 And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran, and tooke men with them out of Paran, and came to Egypt vnto Pharaoh King of Egypt, which gaue him an house, and appointed him vitailes, and gaue him lande. 19 So Hadad found great fauour in the sight of Pharaoh, and he gaue him to wife the sister of his owne wife, euen the sister of Tahpenes the Queene. 20 And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his sonne, whome Tahpenes wayned in Pharaohs house: and Genubath was in Pharaohs house among the sonnes of Pharaoh. 21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt, that Dauid slept with his fathers, and that Ioab the captaine of the hoste was dead, Hadad sayde to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may goe to mine owne countrey. 22 But Pharaoh saide vnto him, What hast thou lacked with me, that thou wouldest thus go to thine owne countrey? And he answered, Nothing, but in any wise let me goe. 23 And God stirred him vp another aduersarie, Rezon the sonne of Eliada, which fled from his lorde Hadadezer King of Zobah. 24 And he gathered men vnto him, and had bene captaine ouer the company, when Dauid slew them. And they went to Damascus, and dwelt there, and they made him King in Damascus. 25 Therefore was he an aduersarie to Israel all the daies of Salomon: besides the euil that Hadad did, he also abhorred Israel, and reigned ouer Aram 26 And Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat an Ephrathite of Zereda Salomons seruant (whose mother was called Zeruah a widowe) lift vp his hand against the King. 27 And this was the cause that he lift vp his hande against the King, When Salomon built Millo, he repared the broken places of the citie of Dauid his father. 28 And this man Ieroboam was a man of strength and courage, and Salomon seeing that the yong man was meete for the worke, he made him ouerseer of all the labour of the house of Ioseph. 29 And at that time, when Ieroboam went out of Ierusalem, the Prophet Ahiiah the Shilonite founde him in the way, hauing a newe garment on him, and they two were alone in ye field. 30 Then Ahiiah caught the newe garment that was on him, and rent it in twelue pieces, 31 And said to Ieroboam, Take vnto thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Beholde, I wil rent the kingdome out of ye hands of Salomon, and will giue ten tribes to thee. 32 But he shall haue one tribe for my seruant Dauids sake, and for Ierusalem the citie, which I haue chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, 33 Because they haue forsaken me, and haue worshipped Ashtaroth the god of the Zidonians, and Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and haue not walked in my wayes (to do right in mine eyes, and my statutes, and my lawes) as did Dauid his father. 34 But I will not take the whole kingdome out of his hande: for I will make him prince all his life long for Dauid my seruants sake, whome I haue chosen, and who kept my commandements and my statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdome out of his sonnes hand, and will giue it vnto thee, euen the ten tribes. 36 And vnto his sonne will I giue one tribe, that Dauid my seruant may haue a light alway before me in Ierusalem the citie, which I haue chosen me, to put my Name there. 37 And I wil take thee, and thou shalt reigne, euen as thine heart desireth, and shalt be King ouer Israel. 38 And if thou hearken vnto all that I commande thee, and wilt walke in my wayes, and doe right in my sight, to keepe my statutes and my commandements, as Dauid my seruant did, then will I be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built vnto Dauid, and wil giue Israel vnto thee. 39 And I will for this afflict the seede of Dauid, but not for euer. 40 Salomon sought therefore to kill Ieroboam, and Ieroboam arose, and fled into Egypt vnto Shishak King of Egypt, and was in Egypt vntil the death of Salomon. 41 And the rest of the wordes of Salomon, and all that he did, and his wisedom, are they not written in the booke of the actes of Salomon? 42 The time that Salomon reigned in Ierusalem ouer all Israel, was fourtie yeere. 43 And Salomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the citie of Dauid his father: and Rehoboam his sonne reigned in his steade.
Solomon Turns Away from God
1 Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. 2 He married them even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods. 3 Solomon married seven hundred princesses and also had three hundred concubines. They made him turn away from God, 4 and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 5 He worshiped Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. 6 He sinned against the Lord and was not true to him as his father David had been. 7 On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. 8 He also built places of worship where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.
9-10 Even though the Lord, the God of Israel, had appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to worship foreign gods, Solomon did not obey the Lord but turned away from him. So the Lord was angry with Solomon 11 and said to him, “Because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me and disobeyed my commands, I promise that I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officials. 12 However, for the sake of your father David I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the reign of your son. 13 And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own.”
Solomon's Enemies
14 So the Lord caused Hadad, of the royal family of Edom, to turn against Solomon. 15-16 Long before this, when David had conquered Edom, Joab the commander of his army had gone there to bury the dead. He and his men remained in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every male in Edom 17 except Hadad and some of his father's Edomite servants, who escaped to Egypt. (At that time Hadad was just a child.) 18 They left Midian and went to Paran, where some other men joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to the king, who gave Hadad some land and a house and provided him with food. 19 Hadad won the friendship of the king, and the king gave his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to Hadad in marriage. 20 She bore him a son, Genubath, who was raised by the queen in the palace, where he lived with the king's sons.
21 When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king, “Let me go back to my own country.”
22 “Why?” the king asked. “Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?”
“Just let me go,” Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country.
As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.
23 God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, 24 and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. (This happened after David had defeated Hadadezer and had slaughtered his Syrian allies.) Rezon and his gang went and lived in Damascus, where his followers made him king of Syria. 25 He was an enemy of Israel during the lifetime of Solomon.
God's Promise to Jeroboam
26 Another man who turned against King Solomon was one of his officials, Jeroboam son of Nebat, from Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. 27 This is the story of the revolt.
Solomon was filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the city walls. 28 Jeroboam was an able young man, and when Solomon noticed how hard he worked, he put him in charge of all the forced labor in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 One day, as Jeroboam was traveling from Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him alone on the road in the open country. 30 Ahijah took off the new robe he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, 31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, ‘I am going to take the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. 32 Solomon will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be my own from the whole land of Israel. 33 I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshiped foreign gods: Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon has disobeyed me; he has done wrong and has not kept my laws and commands as his father David did. 34 But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon, and I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. 35 I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes, 36 but I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe, so that I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshiped. 37 Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want. 38 If you obey me completely, live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did, I will always be with you. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. 39 Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not for all time.’”
40 And so Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death.
The Death of Solomon
(2 Chronicles 9.29-31)41 Everything else that Solomon did, his career, and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. 42 He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 43 He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.