30. Ahijah took his new coat and tore it into twelve pieces.
31. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces of this coat for yourself because the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten of the tribes.
32. I will let David’s family keep only one tribe. I will do this because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from among all the tribes of Israel.
33. I will take the kingdom from Solomon because he stopped following me and began worshiping Ashtoreth, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. Solomon stopped following my ways and doing what I say is right. He does not obey my laws and commands as his father David did.
34. So I will take the kingdom away from Solomon’s family. I chose David because he obeyed all my laws and commands. So for my servant David, I will let Solomon be the king for the rest of his life.
35. But Jeroboam, I will take the ten tribes away from his son and give them to you.
36. I will let Solomon’s son keep one tribe to rule over. I will do this for my servant David, so he will always have someone to rule near me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose to be my own.
37. But I will make you king of Israel. You will rule over everything you want.
38. If you live right and obey all my commands as David did, I will be with you and make your family a family of kings, just as I did for David. And you will have Israel as your kingdom.
39. I will punish David’s descendants because of what Solomon did, but not forever.’”
40. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam ran away to Egypt. He went to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.
41. Everything else Solomon did, from the beginning to the end, is written in the book, The History of Solomon.
42. Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years.
43. Then he died and was buried in the city of David, his father. Then Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became the next king after him.