17. Hadad was a young boy at the time. He and some of his father’s Edomite servants fled to Egypt.
18. They left Midian and went to Paran. Taking some men from Paran with them, they went to Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). Pharaoh gave Hadad a home, a food allowance, and land.
19. Pharaoh approved of Hadad. So he gave Hadad his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad’s wife.
20. Tahpenes’ sister had a son ⌊named⌋ Genubath. Tahpenes presented the boy to Pharaoh in the palace, and Genubath lived in the palace among Pharaoh’s children.
21. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had lain down in death with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, had died, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go to my own country.”
22. Pharaoh asked him, “What don’t you have here that makes you eager to go home?”“Nothing,” he said. “But let me leave anyway.”
23. God also raised up Rezon, son of Eliada, as a rival to Solomon. Rezon fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah,
24. after David killed the men of Zobah. Rezon gathered men and became the leader of a troop of warriors. They went to Damascus, settled there, and ruled a kingdom in Damascus.
25. In addition to the trouble that Hadad caused, Rezon was Israel’s rival as long as Solomon lived. He ruled Aram and despised Israel.
26. There was also Jer o boam, who was the son of Nebat and an Ephrathite from Zeredah. His mother Zeruah was a widow. He was one of Solomon’s officers, but he rebelled against the king.
27. This was the situation when he rebelled against the king: Solomon was building the Millo and repairing a break in the ⌊wall of⌋ the City of David.
28. Solomon saw that Jer o boam was a very able and hardworking man. So he put Jer o boam in charge of all forced labor from the tribes of Joseph.
29. At that time Jer o boam left Jerusalem. The prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road. The two of them were alone in the open country, and Ahijah had on new clothes.
30. Ahijah took his new garment and tore it into 12 pieces.
31. He told Jer o boam, “Take 10 pieces because this is what the Lord God of Israel says: I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands and give ten tribes to you.
32. He will have one tribe ⌊left⌋ because of my servant David and Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.
33. I will do this because he has abandoned me and worshiped Astarte (the goddess of the Sidonians), Chemosh (the god of Moab), and Milcom (the god of Ammon). He has not followed my ways. He did not do what I consider right or keep my laws and decrees as his father David did.
34. “I will not take the whole kingdom from him. Instead, I will allow him to be ruler as long as he lives because of my servant David whom I chose, who obeyed my commands and laws.