Bible Strands
1 Kings 11:4
For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Solomon’s late reign, noting how his extensive royal marriages gradually redirected his loyalty away from Yahweh. This account follows the divine warning in 1 Kings 9:4 regarding the conditions for enduring kingship.
The words — הִטּוּ (hi.Tu) means “they turned aside,” and לְבָב֔וֹ (le.va.V/o) means “his heart.” The phrasing indicates a gradual diversion of inner allegiance rather than an immediate abandonment of covenant.
The thread — The requirement of undivided devotion appears in 1 Kings 8:61, where Solomon commands Israel to keep their hearts fully devoted to the LORD. The passage is explicitly measured against his father’s record in 1 Kings 9:4 and 1 Kings 11:6, which contrast Solomon’s divided loyalty with David’s complete following of God.
Why it lands — The text establishes that prolonged association with competing loyalties actively fractures covenant commitment. It requires readers to identify and sever influences that gradually redirect their primary allegiance away from God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 9:4 And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,
- 1 Kings 8:61 So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”
- 1 Kings 11:6 So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
- Deuteronomy 17:17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
- 1 Kings 11:2 These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.
- 2 Chronicles 17:3 Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,
- 2 Chronicles 34:2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
- Deuteronomy 7:4 because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.
- 1 Kings 6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.