1 Kings 11:2

11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ¹  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ²  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ³ 

1 Kings 11:4

11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to ⁴  other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. ⁵ 

1 Kings 11:8

11:8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

² tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.

⁴ tn Heb “bent his heart after.”

⁵ tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”