1 Kings 11

2To those of the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, You shall not go in unto them nor shall they come in unto you, lest they turn your hearts after their idols—to these Solomon was attached by love:

4so that when he grew old his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.

3For when his strange wives had turned his heart after their gods,

7then Solomon built high places for Chamos the idol of Moab, and for their king the idol of the Ammonites, and for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians:

8and thus he did for all his strange wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their idols.

10Who had appeared to him twice and had given him a charge touching this very thing, by no means to go after strange gods, but to be careful to do what the Lord God commanded him. His heart was not perfect with the Lord like the heart of his father David,

11therefore the Lord said to Solomon, Because these things have been done with thee, and thou hast not kept My commandments and My statutes which I enjoined thee, I will divide and rend thy kingdom out of thy hand and give it to thy servant.

12But I will not do these things in thy days for the sake of thy father David. Out of the hand of thy son will I take it;

13but I will not take the whole kingdom, I will give thy son one tribe for David my servant’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen.

15and in the general extirpation which David made of Edom, when Joab the captain general of the army went to bury the dead after the general slaughter of the males in Idumea

16(for Joab and all Israel continued there six months till they cut off all the males in Idumea),

17Ader with all the principal Idumeans of the servants of his father fled and went to Egypt. Ader was then but a child;

18but the men of the city Madiam arose and came to Pharan and taking the men with them went to Egypt. And when Ader came to Pharao he gave him a house and ordered him a regular supply of provisions.

19And Ader was in high favour with Pharao so that Pharao gave him to wife his own wife’s sister, an elder sister of Thekemina.

20And the sister of Thekemina bore him a son named Ganebeth. And Thekemina brought him up among the sons of Pharao. Though Ganebeth was among the sons of Pharao,

21yet when Ader heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the captain general of the army was dead, Ader said to Pharao, Send me away that I may return to my own land.

22Upon which Pharao said to him, What hast thou been in want of with me that thou seekest to go to thy own land? But Ader said, Nevertheless thou must let me go. So Ader returned to his own country. And this was the mischief which Ader did, he was a bitter enemy to Israel and made himself king in the land of Edom.

27this was the cause why he lifted up his hand against king Solomon. When the king was building the citadel and enclosing with works the city of his father David,

28this man Jeroboam was mighty in power, and Solomon seeing that the youth was a man of business set him over the burdens of the house of Joseph.

29And it happened that one time when Jeroboam went out to Jerusalem, Achia, the Selonite, the prophet, met him on the road and took him aside out of the way. Now Achia was clad with a new mantle; and when they were both alone in the fields,

30Achia took the new mantle which he had on and rent it into twelve pieces,

31and said to Jeroboam, Take for thyself ten pieces. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and give thee ten tribes.

32But he shall have two tribes for David, My servant’s sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

33Because he hath forsaken Me and sacrificed to Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos and the idols of Moab, and to their king the horror of the Ammonites, and hath not walked in My ways to do what is right in My sight like his father David; though by raising up enemies against him as I certainly shall do all the days of his life,

34I will not take out of his hand the kingdom, which shall continue to him entire, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose;

35yet I will take it out of the hands of his son and give thee ten tribes.

36And to his son I will give two tribes, that My servant David, may have a standing continually before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself to put My name there.

37And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign over all that thy soul desireth, and thou shalt be king over Israel.

38And if thou wilt keep all that I will give thee in charge and walk in My ways, and do what is right before Me, keeping My statutes, and My commandments, as My servant David did, I will be with thee, and I will build for thee a sure house, as I did for David.

40So when Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, he arose and fled to Egypt to Susakim, king of Egypt, and continued in Egypt till the death of Solomon.

42The time which Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel, was forty years.

43And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. And when Jeroboam, son of Nabat, heard the news; for having fled from the presence of Solomon he had settled in Egypt and was still there, he set out immediately and came to his own city Sarira which is in mount Ephraim.