Solomon Turns from the Lord
1 Now
1King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
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from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel,
2"You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
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He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
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For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and
3his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God,
4as was the heart of David his father.
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For Solomon went after
5Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after
6Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
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So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done.
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Then Solomon built a high place for
7Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for
8Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
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And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
The Lord Raises Adversaries
9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because
9his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel,
10who had appeared to him twice
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and
11had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.
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Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you,
12I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
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Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
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However,
13I will not tear away all the kingdom, but
14I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem
15that I have chosen."