Solomon by means of his wives falleth into idolatry: God raiseth him
adversaries, Adad, Razon, and Jeroboam: Solomon dieth.
11:1. And king Solomon loved many strange women, besides the daughter
of Pharao, and women of Moab, and of Ammon, and of Edom, and of Sidon,
and of the Hethites:
11:2. Of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the children of
Israel: You shall not go in unto them, neither shall any of them come
into yours: for they will most certainly turn away your hearts to
follow their gods. And to these was Solomon joined with a most ardent
love.
11:3. And he had seven hundred wives as queens, and three hundred
concubines: and the women turned away his heart.
11:4. And when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to
follow strange gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his
God, as was the heart of David, his father.
11:5. But Solomon worshipped Astarthe, the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites.
11:6. And Solomon did that which was not pleasing before the Lord, and
did not fully follow the Lord, as David, his father.
11:7. Then Solomon built a temple for Chamos, the idol of Moab, on the
hill that is over against Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the idol of the
children of Ammon.
11:8. And he did in this manner for all his wives that were strangers,
who burnt incense, and offered sacrifice to their gods.
11:9. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his mind was turned
away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice;
11:10. And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not
follow strange gods: but he kept not the things which the Lord
commanded him.
11:11. The Lord therefore said to Solomon: Because thou hast done this,
and hast not kept my covenant, and my precepts, which I have commanded
thee, I will divide and rend thy kingdom, and will give it to thy
servant.
11:12. Nevertheless, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy
father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
11:13. Neither will I take away the whole kingdom; but I will give one
tribe to thy son, for the sake of David, my servant, and Jerusalem,
which I have chosen.
One tribe. . .Besides that of Juda, his own native tribe.
11:14. And the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Adad, the
Edomite, of the king's seed, in Edom.
11:15. For when David was in Edom, and Joab, the general of the army,
was gone up to bury them that were slain, and had killed every male in
Edom,
11:16. (For Joab remained there six months with all Israel, till he had
slain every male in Edom,)
11:17. Then Adad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's
servants, with him, to go into Egypt: and Adad was then a little boy.
11:18. And they arose out of Madian, and came into Pharan, and they
took men with them from Pharan, and went into Egypt, to Pharao, the
king of Egypt: who gave him a house, and appointed him victuals, and
assigned him land.
11:19. And Adad found great favour before Pharao, insomuch that he gave
him to wife the own sister of his wife, Taphnes, the queen.
11:20. And the sister of Taphnes bore him his son, Genubath; and
Taphnes brought him up in the house of Pharao: and Genubath dwelt with
Pharao among his children.
11:21. And when Adad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers,
and that Joab, the general of the army, was dead, he said to Pharao:
Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.
11:22. And Pharao said to him: Why, what is wanting to thee with me,
that thou seekest to go to thy own country? But he answered: Nothing;
yet I beseech thee to let me go.
11:23. God also raised up against him an adversary, Razon, the son of
Eliada, who had fled from his master, Adarezer, the king of Soba.
11:24. And he gathered men against him, and he became a captain of
robbers, when David slew them of Soba: and they went to Damascus, and
dwelt there, and they made him king in Damascus.
11:25. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon: and
this is the evil of Adad, and his hatred against Israel; and he reigned
in Syria.
11:26. Jeroboam also, the son of Nabat, an Ephrathite, of Sareda, a
servant of Solomon, whose mother was named Sarua, a widow woman, lifted
up his hand against the king.
11:27. And this is the cause of his rebellion against him; for Solomon
built Mello, and filled up the breach of the city of David, his father.
11:28. And Jeroboam was a valiant and mighty man: and Solomon seeing
him a young man ingenious and industrious, made him chief over the
tributes of all the house of Joseph.
11:29. So it came to pass at that time, that Jeroboam went out of
Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahias, the Silonite, clad with a new
garment, found him in the way: and they two were alone in the field.
11:30. And Ahias taking his new garment, wherewith he was clad, divided
it into twelve parts:
11:31. And he said to Jeroboam: Take to thee ten pieces: for thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the
hand of Solomon, and will give thee ten tribes.
11:32. But one tribe shall remain to him for the sake of my servant,
David, and Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel:
11:33. Because he hath forsaken me, and hath adored Astarthe, the
goddess of the Sidonians, and Chamos, the god of Moab, and Moloch, the
god of the children of Ammon: and hath not walked in my ways, to do
justice before me, and to keep my precepts, and judgments, as did
David, his father.
11:34. Yet I will not take away all the kingdom out of his hand, but I
will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant's
sake, whom I chose, who kept my commandments, and my precepts.
11:35. But I will take away the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will
give thee ten tribes:
11:36. And to his son I will give one tribe, that there may remain a
lamp for my servant, David, before me always in Jerusalem, the city
which I have chosen, that my name might be there.
11:37. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign over all that thy
soul desireth, and thou shalt be king over Israel.
11:38. If then thou wilt hearken to all that I shall command thee, and
wilt walk in my ways, and do what is right before me, keeping my
commandments and my precepts, as David, my servant, did: I will be with
thee, and will build thee up a faithful house, as I built a house for
David, and I will deliver Israel to thee:
11:39. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but yet not for
ever.
11:40. Solomon, therefore, sought to kill Jeroboam: but he arose, and
fled into Egypt, to Sesac, the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the
death of Solomon.
11:41. And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did and
his wisdom: behold they are all written in the book of the words of the
days of Solomon.
The book of the words, etc. . .This book is lost, with divers others
mentioned in holy writ.
11:42. And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel,
were forty years.
11:43. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city
of David, his father; and Roboam, his son, reigned in his stead.
Solomon slept, etc. . .That is, died. He was then about fifty-eight
years of age, having reigned forty years.