Study Desk

Now ^(C1)King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

from the nations of which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "^(C1)You shall not ^(F1)associate with them, nor shall they ^(F1)associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away ^(F2)to follow their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

^(C1)He had seven hundred wives, who were ^(F1)princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away ^(F1)to follow other gods; and ^(C1)his heart was not ^(F2)wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

For Solomon became a follower of ^(C1)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of ^(F1)(C2)Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.

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

Then Solomon built a high place for ^(C1)Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is ^(F1)east of Jerusalem, and for ^(C2)Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon.

He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Now ^(C1)the LORD was angry with Solomon ^(C2)because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, ^(C3)who had appeared to him twice,

and ^(C1)had commanded him regarding this thing, that he was not to follow other gods; but he did not comply with what the LORD had commanded.

So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since ^(F1)you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, ^(C1)I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant.

"However, I will not do it in your days, only for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son.

"Yet ^(C1)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but ^(C2)I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and ^(C3)for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."