1 Kings 11:37-43

11:37 I will select ¹  you; you will rule over all you desire to have and you will be king over Israel. 11:38 You must obey ²  all I command you to do, follow my instructions, ³  do what I approve, ⁴  and keep my rules and commandments, like my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David; ⁵  I will give you Israel. 11:39 I will humiliate David’s descendants because of this, ⁶  but not forever.” ⁷  11:40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt and found refuge with King Shishak of Egypt. ⁸  He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon’s Reign Ends

11:41 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, including all his accomplishments and his wise decisions, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of Solomon. ⁹  11:42 Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem ¹⁰  for forty years. 11:43 Then Solomon passed away ¹¹  and was buried in the city of his father David. ¹²  His son Rehoboam replaced him as king. ¹³ 

[11:37]  ¹ tn Heb “take.”

[11:38]  ² tn Heb “If you obey.” In the Hebrew text v. 38 is actually one long conditional sentence, which has been broken into two parts in the translation for stylistic purposes.

[11:38]  ³ tn Heb “walk in my ways.”

[11:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “do what is right in my eyes.”

[11:38]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will build for you a permanent house, like I built for David.”

[11:39]  ⁶ sn Because of this. Reference is made to the idolatry mentioned earlier.

[11:39]  ⁷ tn Heb “but not all the days.”

[11:40]  ⁸ tn Heb “but Jeroboam arose and ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt.”

[11:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Solomon, and all which he did, and his wisdom, are they not written on the scroll of the events of Solomon?”

[11:42]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:43]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[11:43]  ¹² sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

[11:43]  ¹³ tc Before this sentence the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it so happened that when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard – now he was in Egypt where he had fled from before Solomon and was residing in Egypt – he came straight to his city in the land of Sarira which is on mount Ephraim. And king Solomon slept with his fathers.”