Solomon Turns from God

1 Now aKing Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “aYou shall not 1associate with them, nor shall they 1associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.

3 aHe had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and ahis heart was not 1wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

5 For Solomon went after aAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after 1bMilcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done.

7 Then Solomon built a high place for aChemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is 1east of Jerusalem, and for bMolech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.

8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 Now athe Lord was angry with Solomon bbecause his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, cwho had appeared to him twice,

10 and ahad commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded.

11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because 1you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, aI will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

12 “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

13 “However, aI will not tear away all the kingdom, but bI will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and cfor the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”