The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 King Shlomo loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh. There were women from the Mo'avi, 'Amoni, Edomi, Tzidoni and Hitti -
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Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
2 nations about which ADONAI had said to the people of Isra'el, "You are not to go among them or they among you, because they will turn your hearts away toward their gods." But Shlomo was deeply attached to them by his love.
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The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love.
3 He had 700 wives, all princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.
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He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away.
4 For when Shlomo became old, his wives turned his heart away toward other gods; so that he was not wholehearted with ADONAI his God, as David his father had been.
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For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.
5 For Shlomo followed 'Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni and Milkom the abomination of the 'Amoni.
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For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites.
6 Thus Shlomo did what was evil in ADONAI's view and did not fully follow ADONAI, as David his father had done.
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And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did.
7 Shlomo built a high place for K'mosh the abomination of Mo'av on the hill on front of Yerushalayim, and another for Molekh the abomination of the people of 'Amon.
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Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon.
8 This is what he did for all his foreign wives, who then offered and sacrificed to their gods.
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And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.
9 So ADONAI grew angry with Shlomo, because his heart had turned away from ADONAI the God of Isra'el, who had appeared to him twice
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And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision;
10 and given him orders concerning this matter that he should not follow other gods. But he didn't obey ADONAI's orders.
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And had given him orders about this very thing, that he was not to go after other gods; but he did not keep the orders of the Lord.
11 So ADONAI said to Shlomo, "Since this is what has been in your mind, and you haven't kept my covenant and my regulations which I ordered you to obey, I will tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.
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So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept my agreement and my laws, which I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant.
12 However, for David your father's sake I won't do it while you are alive, but I will tear it away from your son.
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I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son.
13 Even then, I won't tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Yerushalayim, which I have chosen."
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Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection.
14 Then ADONAI raised up an adversary against Shlomo, Hadad the Edomi, of the royal line of Edom.
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So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom.
15 Back when David had been in Edom, and Yo'av the commander of the army had gone up to bury the dead, having killed every male in Edom
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And when David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had gone to put the dead into the earth, and had put to death every male in Edom;
16 (for Yo'av and all Isra'el had stayed there six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom),
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(For Joab and all Israel were there six months till every male in Edom had been cut off;)
17 Hadad had fled, he and a number of Edomi servants of his father's with him, and gone into Egypt; at the time Hadad had been but a small boy.
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Hadad, being still a young boy, went in flight to Egypt, with certain Edomites, servants of his father;
18 On their way, they passed through Midyan and arrived in Pa'ran, took with them men from Pa'ran, and went on into Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave Hadad a house, saw to it that he had food and gave him land.
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And they went on from Midian and came to Paran; and, taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and gave orders for his food and gave him land.
19 Hadad became a great favorite of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his own wife's sister in marriage, that is, the sister of Tachp'neis the queen.
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Now Hadad was very pleasing to Pharaoh, so that he gave him the sister of his wife, Tahpenes the queen, for his wife.
20 The sister of Tachp'neis bore him G'nuvat his son, and Tachp'neis brought him up in Pharaoh's own house, so that G'nuvat was in Pharaoh's house along with Pharaoh's sons.
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And the sister of Tahpenes had a son by him, Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was living in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons.
21 When Hadad in Egypt heard that David slept with his ancestors and Yo'av the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so that I can return to my own country."
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Now when Hadad had news in Egypt that David had been put to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Send me back to my country.
22 Pharaoh asked him, "But what have you lacked with me that makes you want just now to go to your own country?" "Nothing in particular," he replied, "but let me leave, anyway."
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But Pharaoh said to him, What have you been short of while you have been with me, that you are desiring to go back to your country? And he said, Nothing; but even so, send me back.
23 God raised up another adversary against Shlomo, Rezon the son of Elyada, who had fled from his lord Hadad'ezer king of Tzovah
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And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah:
24 when David killed the men from Tzovah. Rezon rallied men to himself and became the leader of a band of marauders; they went to Dammesek and settled there, while he became king of Dammesek.
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He got some men together and made himself captain of a band of outlaws; and went to Damascus and became king there.
25 He remained an adversary as long as Shlomo lived, causing difficulties in addition to those of Hadad. He detested Isra'el and ruled Aram.
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He was a trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. And this is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom.
26 Also Yarov'am the son of N'vat, an Efrati from Tz'redah, whose mother's name was Tz'ru'ah, one of Shlomo's servants, rebelled against the king.
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And there was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow; and his hand was lifted up against the king.
27 Here is the reason he rebelled against the king: Shlomo was building the Millo and closing the breach in [the wall of] the City of David his father.
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The way in which his hand came to be lifted up against the king was this: Solomon was building the Millo and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David;
28 Now this Yarov'am was a strong, energetic man; and Shlomo, seeing how serious the young man was, made him supervisor over all the work being done by the tribe of Yosef.
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And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph.
29 Once, during this period, when Yarov'am had gone out of Yerushalayim, the prophet Achiyah from Shiloh spotted him traveling. Achiyah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in open country.
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Now at that time, when Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road; now Ahijah had put on a new robe; and the two of them were by themselves in the open country.
30 Achiyah took hold of his new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
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And Ahijah took his new robe in his hands, parting it violently into twelve.
31 Then he said to Yarov'am, "Take ten pieces for yourself! For here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'I am going to tear the kingdom out of Shlomo's hand, and I will give ten tribes to you.
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And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten of the parts, for this is what the Lord has said: See, I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force, and will give ten tribes to you;
32 But he will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Yerushalayim, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Isra'el.
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(But one tribe will be his, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town which, out of all the tribes of Israel, I have made mine,)
33 I will do this because they have abandoned me and worshipped 'Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni, K'mosh the god of Mo'av and Milkom the god of the people of 'Amon. They haven't lived according to my ways, so that they could do what was right in my view and obey my regulations and rulings, as did David his father.
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Because they are turned away from me to the worship of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites; they have not been walking in my ways or doing what is right in my eyes or keeping my laws and my decisions as his father David did.
34 Nevertheless, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him; but I will make him prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, because he obeyed my mitzvot and regulations.
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But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws.
35 However, I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten tribes of it to you.
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But I will take the kingdom from his son, and give it to you.
36 To his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant will always have a light burning before me in Yerushalayim, the city I chose for myself as the place to put my name.
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And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there.
37 I will take you, and you will rule over everything you want; you will be king over Isra'el.
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And you I will take, and you will be king over Israel, ruling over whatever is the desire of your soul.
38 Now if you will listen to all that I order you, live according to my ways and do what is right in my view, so that you observe my regulations and mitzvot, as David my servant did; then I will be with you, and I will build you a lasting dynasty, as I built for David; and I will give Isra'el to you.
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And if you give attention to the orders I give you, walking in my ways and doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my laws and my orders as David my servant did; then I will be with you, building up for you a safe house, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.
39 For this [offense] I will trouble David's descendants, but not forever."
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(So that I may send trouble for this on the seed of David, but not for ever.)
40 Because of this Shlomo tried to kill Yarov'am; but Yarov'am roused himself, fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and stayed in Egypt until the death of Shlomo.
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And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.
41 Other activities of Shlomo, all he accomplished and his wisdom are recorded in the Annals of Shlomo.
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Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all he did, and his wisdom, are they not recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon?
42 The length of Shlomo's reign in Yerushalayim over all Isra'el was forty years.
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And the time Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 Then Shlomo slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David his father, and Rechav'am his son became king in his place.
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And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father: and Solomon went to rest with his fathers and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.