February 12th, 2006.

Thursday of the fifth week in ordinary time.

A reading from the first book of kings.

When Solomon was old, his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,

and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcombe, the idol of the Ammonites,

Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not follow him unreservedly as his father

David had done. Solomon then built a high place to

Kimosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molek, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite

Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to

their gods. The Lord therefore became angry with Solomon,

because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

For though the Lord had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed

him.

So the Lord said to Solomon, since this is what you want,

and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you,

I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.

I will not do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of your father David.

It is your son whom I will deprive.

Nor will I take away the whole kingdom.

I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.

The Word of the Lord.

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