11. So the Lord said to Solomon, “You have chosen to break your agreement with me. You have not obeyed my commands. So I promise that I will tear your kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.
12. But I loved your father David, so I will not take your kingdom away from you while you are alive. I will wait until your son becomes king. Then I will take it from him.
13. Still, I will not tear away all the kingdom from your son. I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this for my servant David and for Jerusalem, the city I chose.”
14. Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite to become Solomon’s enemy. Hadad was from the royal family of Edom.
15. This is how it happened. In the past David fought against Edom. Joab was the commander of David’s army. Joab went to Edom to bury his dead soldiers. While there Joab killed all the Edomite men who were still alive.
16. Joab and the men of Israel stayed in Edom for six months until they killed all the men of Edom.
17. At the time Hadad was only a young boy. He and some of his father’s servants ran away to Egypt.
18. They left Midian and went to Paran. In Paran some other people joined them and the whole group went to Egypt. They went to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and asked for help. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house, some land, and food to eat.
19. Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave Hadad a wife. She was Pharaoh’s sister-in-law. (Pharaoh’s wife was Queen Tahpenes.)
20. Hadad and the sister of Tahpenes had a son named Genubath. Queen Tahpenes let Genubath grow up in Pharaoh’s house with his children.
21. In Egypt Hadad heard that David had died and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go home to my own country.”
22. But Pharaoh answered, “I have given you everything you need here. Why do you want to go back to your own country?” Hadad answered, “Please, just let me go home.”
23. God also raised up another man to become one of Solomon’s enemies. This man was Rezon, son of Eliada. Rezon ran away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah.
24. After David defeated the army of Zobah, Rezon gathered some men and became the leader of a small army. He went to Damascus and stayed there to rule from Damascus.
25. Rezon became the king of Aram. He was an enemy of Israel throughout Solomon’s life and added to the trouble that Hadad created for Israel.
26. There was also another person who became an enemy of Solomon. He was Jeroboam son of Nebat. He was an Ephraimite from the town of Zeredah. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. He was one of Solomon’s servants, but he rebelled against the king.