He had seven hundred wives, who were princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.
Parallel translations
- WEB He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
- KJV And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
- BSB He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
- NKJV And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
- NLT He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and they turned his heart away. The sheer scale of his disobedience overwhelmed his devotion.
Overview
These marriages, many of them political alliances, multiplied wives far beyond what Deuteronomy 17:17 warned would turn a king's heart. The very thing God had cautioned against came to pass: his many wives drew his heart away from the LORD. The verse soberly shows that accumulated compromise, even when pursued for seemingly prudent reasons, can corrode genuine faith and devotion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Eccl 7:28which my soul still seeks; but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand; but I have not found a woman among all those.
- 2 Sam 5:13–16David took more concubines and wives for himself out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David.
- Judg 8:30–31Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body, for he had many wives.
- 2 Sam 3:2–5Sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
- 2 Chr 11:21Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
- Judg 9:5He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 11:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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