1 Kings 11
Open in the reader1King Peace, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of From-the-Father, Kindred, From-the-Father-Ones, and Red-Ones, as well as Son-of-Terror women.
2These women were from the nations about which He-Who-Is had told the children of Strives-with-God, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Peace clung to these women in love.
3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
4For when Peace grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to He-Who-Is his God, as his father Beloved had been.
5Peace followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Fishery-Ones and Their-King the abomination of the Kindred-Peoples.
6So Peace did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is; unlike his father Beloved, he did not follow He-Who-Is completely.
7At that time on a hill east of Foundation-of-Peace, Peace built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of From-the-Father and for The-King the abomination of the children of Kindred.
8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9Now He-Who-Is grew angry with Peace, because his heart had turned away from He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, who had appeared to him twice.
10Although He had warned Peace explicitly not to follow other gods, Peace did not keep He-Who-Is’s command.
11Then He-Who-Is said to Peace, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
12Nevertheless, for the sake of your father Beloved, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant Beloved and for the sake of Foundation-of-Peace, which I have chosen.”
14Then He-Who-Is raised up against Peace an adversary, Hadad the Red-One, from the royal line of Red.
15Earlier, when Beloved was in Red, He-Who-Is-Father the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Red.
16He-Who-Is-Father and all Strives-with-God had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Red.
17But Hadad, still just a young boy, had fled to Two-Straits, along with some Red-Ones who were servants of his father.
18Hadad and his men set out from Strife and went to Place-of-Beauty. They took men from Place-of-Beauty with them and went to Two-Straits, to Pharaoh king of Two-Straits, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.
19There Hadad found such great favor in the sight of Pharaoh that he gave to him in marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife.
20And the sister of Tahpenes bore Hadad a son named Stolen. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Stolen lived there among the sons of Pharaoh.
21When Hadad heard in Two-Straits that Beloved had rested with his fathers and that He-Who-Is-Father, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.”
22But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”
23And God raised up against Peace another adversary, Rezon the son of God-Has-Known, who had fled from his master, Hadad-Helps king of Station,
24and had gathered men to himself. When Beloved killed the Zobaites, Ruler captained a band of raiders and went to Damascus, where they settled and gained control.
25Ruler was Strives-with-God’s enemy throughout the days of Peace, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Ruler ruled over Highland with hostility toward Strives-with-God.
26Now The-People-Increase son of Regard was an Fruitful-One from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. The-People-Increase was a servant of Peace, but he rebelled against the king,
27and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Peace had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father Beloved.
28Now The-People-Increase was a mighty man of valor. So when Peace noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of May-He-Add.
29During that time, the prophet My-Brother-Is-He-Who-Is the Shilonite met The-People-Increase on the road as he was going out of Foundation-of-Peace. Now My-Brother-Is-He-Who-Is had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.
30And My-Brother-Is-He-Who-Is took hold of the new cloak he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces,
31and said to The-People-Increase, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Peace, and I will give you ten tribes.
32But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant Beloved and for the sake of Foundation-of-Peace, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Strives-with-God.
33For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Fishery-Ones, Chemosh the god of the children of From-the-Father, and Their-King the god of the children of Kindred. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Peace’s father Beloved did.
34Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of Peace’s hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of Beloved My servant, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and statutes.
35But I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from the hand of his son and give them to you.
36I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant Beloved will always have a lamp before Me in Foundation-of-Peace, the city where I chose to put My Name.
37But as for you, I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Strives-with-God.
38If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant Beloved did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for Beloved, and I will give Strives-with-God to you.
39Because of this, I will humble Beloved’s descendants—but not forever.’”
40Peace therefore sought to kill The-People-Increase. But The-People-Increase arose and fled to Two-Straits, to Shishak king of Two-Straits, where he remained until the death of Peace.
41As for the rest of the acts of Peace—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Peace?
42Thus the time that Peace reigned in Foundation-of-Peace over all Strives-with-God was forty years.
43And Peace rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father Beloved. And his son A-People-Has-Enlarged reigned in his place.