1 Raja-raja 11:17-34

11:17 Hadad, ¹  who was only a small boy at the time, escaped with some of his father’s Edomite servants and headed for Egypt. ²  11:18 They went from Midian to Paran; they took some men from Paran and went to Egypt. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, supplied him with a house and food and even assigned him some land. ³  11:19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so well ⁴  he gave him his sister-in-law (Queen Tahpenes’ sister) as a wife. ⁵  11:20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, ⁶  named Genubath. Tahpenes raised ⁷  him in Pharaoh’s palace; Genubath grew up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s sons. 11:21 While in Egypt Hadad heard that David had passed away ⁸  and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, “Give me permission to leave ⁹  so I can return to my homeland.” 11:22 Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack here that makes you want to go to your homeland?” ¹⁰  Hadad replied, ¹¹  “Nothing, but please give me permission to leave.” ¹² 

11:23 God also brought against Solomon ¹³  another enemy, Rezon son of Eliada who had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. 11:24 He gathered some men and organized a raiding band. ¹⁴  When David tried to kill them, ¹⁵  they went to Damascus, where they settled down and gained control of the city. 11:25 He was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign and, like Hadad, caused trouble. He loathed ¹⁶  Israel and ruled over Syria.

11:26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against ¹⁷  the king. He was an Ephraimite ¹⁸  from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. 11:27 This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: ¹⁹  Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ²⁰  11:28 Jeroboam was a talented man; ²¹  when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe ²²  of Joseph. 11:29 At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah ²³  was wearing a brand new robe, 11:30 and he grabbed the robe ²⁴  and tore it into twelve pieces. 11:31 Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give ten tribes to you. 11:32 He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 11:33 I am taking the kingdom from him ²⁵  because they have ²⁶  abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions ²⁷  by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon’s father David did. ²⁸  11:34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules.

[11:17]  ¹ tn The MT reads “Adad,” an alternate form of the name Hadad.

[11:17]  ² tn Heb “and Adad fled, he and Edomite men from the servants of his father, to go to Egypt, and Hadad was a small boy.”

[11:18]  ³ tn Heb “and they arose from Midian and went to Paran and they took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and he gave to him a house and food and he said to him, and a land he gave to him.” Something seems to be accidentally omitted after “and he said to him.”

[11:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh.”

[11:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he gave to him a wife, the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.”

[11:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “bore him Genubath his son.”

[11:20]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads וַתִּגְמְלֵהוּ (vattigmÿlehu, “weaned him”) but a slight alteration of the consonantal text yields וַתִּגְדְלֵהוּ (vattigdÿlehu, “raised him”), which seems to make better sense.

[11:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[11:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “send me away.”

[11:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Indeed what do you lack with me, that now you are seeking to go to your land?”

[11:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said.”

[11:22]  ¹² sn So Hadad asked Pharaoh… This lengthy description of Hadad’s exile in Egypt explains why Hadad wanted to oppose Solomon and supports the author’s thesis that his hostility to Solomon found its ultimate source in divine providence. Though Hadad enjoyed a comfortable life in Egypt, when the Lord raised him up (apparently stirring up his desire for vengeance) he decided to leave the comforts of Egypt and return to Edom.

[11:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Solomon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he was the officer of a raiding band.”

[11:24]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads “when David killed them.” This phrase is traditionally joined with what precedes. The ancient Greek version does not reflect the phrase and some suggest that it has been misplaced from the end of v. 23.

[11:25]  ¹⁶ tn The construction (Qal of קוּץ + בְּ [quts + bet] preposition) is rare, but not without parallel (see Lev 20:23).

[11:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “raised a hand against.”

[11:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Ephrathite,” which here refers to an Ephraimite (see HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרַיִם).

[11:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this is the matter concerning which he raised a hand against the king.”

[11:27]  ²⁰ 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.

[11:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “man of strength.”

[11:28]  ²² tn Heb “house.”

[11:29]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text has simply “he,” making it a bit unclear whether Jeroboam or Ahijah is the subject, but in the Hebrew word order Ahijah is the nearer antecedent, and this is followed by the present translation.

[11:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and Ahijah grabbed the new robe that was on him.”

[11:33]  ²⁵ tn The words “I am taking the kingdom from him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:33]  ²⁶ tc This is the reading of the MT; the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he has.”

[11:33]  ²⁷ tn Heb “walked in my ways.”

[11:33]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by doing what is right in my eyes, my rules and my regulations, like David his father.”