1 Kings 11:1-2

The Lord Punishes Solomon for Idolatry

11:1 King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 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 11:21

11:21 While in Egypt Hadad heard that David had passed away ⁴  and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, “Give me permission to leave ⁵  so I can return to my homeland.”

Psalms 45:14

45:14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king.

Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her,

are led before you. ⁶ 

Revelation 7:9

7:9 After these things I looked, and here was ⁷  an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, ⁸  people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.

[11:2]  ¹ tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

[11:2]  ² tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:2]  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.

[11:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[11:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “send me away.”

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “virgins after her, her companions, are led to you.” Some emend לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) to לָהּ (lah, “to her,” i.e., the princess), because the princess is now being spoken of in the third person (vv. 13-14a), rather than being addressed directly (as in vv. 10-12). However, the ambiguous suffixed form לָךְ need not be taken as second feminine singular. The suffix can be understood as a pausal second masculine singular form, addressed to the king. The translation assumes this to be the case; note that the king is addressed once more in vv. 16-17, where the second person pronouns are masculine.

[7:9]  ⁷ tn The phrase “and here was” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[7:9]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.