Solomon’s many wives

11 King Solomon married many foreign women. First he married the daughter of the king of Egypt. He also married women from the Heth people-group and from the Moab, Ammon, and Edom people-groups, and from Sidon city. 2 He married them even though Yahweh had commanded the Israeli people, “Do not marry people from those areas, because if you do that, they will surely persuade you [IDM] to worship the gods that they worship!” 3 Solomon married 700 women who were kings’ daughters. He also had 300 wives who were his slaves/servants. And his wives caused him to turn away from worshiping God. 4 By the time that Solomon became old, they had persuaded him to worship the gods from their countries. He was not completely dedicated/committed to Yahweh his God like his father [SYN] David had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Astarte, the goddess that the people of Sidon worshiped, and he worshiped Molech, the disgusting god that the Ammon people-group worshiped. 6 That’s how Solomon did things that Yahweh said were evil. He did not conduct his life like his father David had done; he did not conduct his life as Yahweh wanted him to.

7 On the hill to the east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god that the Moab people-group worshiped, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god that the Ammon people-group worshiped. 8 He also built places where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to the gods from their own countries.

9-10 9-10Even though Yahweh, the God whom the Israelis worshiped, had appeared to Solomon two times, and had commanded him to not worship foreign gods, Solomon refused to obey Yahweh. So Yahweh was angry with Solomon, 11 and said to him, “You have chosen to break the agreement that I made with you and to disobey what I commanded you. So I am surely not going to allow you to rule all of your kingdom. I am going to allow one of your officials to rule it. 12 But, because of what I promised your father David, I will allow you to rule all your kingdom while you are still living. After you die, I will not allow your son to rule the whole kingdom [MTY]. 13 But I will not take all the kingdom away from him. Instead, I will allow him to rule one tribe besides the tribe of Judah, because of what I promised to David, who served me well, and because I want David’s descendants to rule in Jerusalem, where my temple is located.”