1 Kings 11 Solomon's Idolatry and God's Wrath Against Him

 1 Kings 11

Solomon's Idolatry and God's Wrath Against Him

1 King Solomon loved many foreign women, besides Pharaoh's daughter, Moabites, Ammonites, Edumeans, Sidonians and Hittites.

2 From the nations where the Lord had said to the Israelites, "You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; otherwise they will turn your hearts after their gods." Solomon loved them.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

 4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, like the heart of David his father. 

5 For Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and followed Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

 6 So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not fully follow the LORD, as David his father had done. 

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Hamos, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 

8 And he did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 

9 Therefore the LORD was angry with Solomon, because he had turned his heart away from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 

10 And concerning this matter he had commanded him that he should not follow other gods: but he did not keep that which the LORD commanded him.

 11 And the LORD said unto Solomon, Because this thing hath been done unto thee, and hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely tear the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 

12 Yet in thy days I will not do it, for the sake of David thy father: I will tear it out of the hand of thy son. 

13 But I will not tear the whole kingdom: I will give one tribe to thy son, for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.