So the five men departed and went to (A)Laish. They saw the people who were there, (B)how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the (C)Sidonians, and they had no ties [a]with anyone.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 18:7 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX with Syria

So the five men(A) left and came to Laish,(B) where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure.(C) And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous.[a] Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians(D) and had no relationship with anyone else.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 18:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
  2. Judges 18:7 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts with the Arameans

Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

11 But (A)King Solomon loved (B)many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, (C)“You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, (D)that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his (E)heart was not [a]loyal to the Lord his God, (F)as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after (G)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after (H)Milcom[b] the abomination of the (I)Ammonites.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 11:4 Lit. at peace with
  2. 1 Kings 11:5 Or Molech

Solomon’s Wives

11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women(A) besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites,(B) Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry(C) with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines,(D) and his wives led him astray.(E) As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods,(F) and his heart was not fully devoted(G) to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth(H) the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek(I) the detestable god of the Ammonites.

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