Common English Bible

1 Kings 11:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB)

1. In addition to Pharaoh’s daughter, King Solomon loved many foreign women, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.

2. These came from the nations that the Lord had commanded the Israelites about: "Don’t intermarry with them. They will definitely turn your heart toward their gods." Solomon clung to these women in love.

3. He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred secondary wives. They turned his heart.

4. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. He wasn’t committed to the Lord his God with all his heart as was his father David.

5. Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the detestable god of the Ammonites.

6. Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes and wasn’t completely devoted to the Lord like his father David.

7. On the hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a shrine to Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and to Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.

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

9. The Lord grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from being with the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.