Solomon Disobeys the Lord

11 ^1-2 (A) The Lord did not want the Israelites to worship foreign gods, so he had warned them not to marry anyone who was not from Israel.

Solomon loved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt. But he also loved some women from Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and others from Sidon and the land of the Hittites. ^3-4 Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married 300 other women.^[a]

As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn't like his father David, who had worshiped only the Lord God. ⁵ Solomon also worshiped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon. ⁶ Solomon's father had obeyed the Lord with all his heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the Lord hated.

⁷ Solomon built shrines on a hill east of Jerusalem to worship Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. ⁸ In fact, he built a shrine for each of his foreign wives, so all of them could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

¹⁴ Solomon received almost 23 tons of gold a year. ¹⁵ The merchants and traders, as well as the kings of Arabia and rulers from Israel, also gave him gold.

¹⁶ Solomon made 200 gold shields and used almost seven kilograms of gold for each one. ¹⁷ He also made 300 smaller gold shields, using almost two kilograms for each one, and he put the shields in his palace in Forest Hall.

¹⁸ His throne was made of ivory and covered with pure gold. ^19-20 The back of the throne was rounded at the top, and it had armrests on each side. There was a statue of a lion on both sides of the throne, and there was a statue of a lion at both ends of each of the six steps leading up to the throne. No other throne in the world was like Solomon's.

²¹ Since silver was almost worthless in those days, everything was made of gold, even the cups and dishes used in Forest Hall.

²² Solomon had a lot of seagoing ships.^[a] Every three years he sent them out with Hiram's ships to bring back gold, silver, and ivory, as well as monkeys and peacocks.^[b]

^27 (A) While he was king, there was silver everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.

¹⁵ While Solomon was king of Israel, there was silver and gold everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.

²⁷ While Solomon was king, there was silver everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as the sycamore trees in the western foothills.