Solomon’s Foreign Wives
1 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite;
2
from the nations which Yahweh had said to the {Israelites}, "You shall not {marry them}, and they shall not {marry you}. They will certainly turn your heart after other gods." But Solomon clung to them to love.
3
He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.
Solomon’s Apostasy
4 It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been].
5
Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of [the] Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites.
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So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father.
7
At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which {faces} Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the {Ammonites}.
8
Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.
Yahweh’s Judgment on Solomon
9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.
10
And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded.
11
So Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.
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However, 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].
13
Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear [away]. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."