Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 11:23 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 23. 23And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Rezon rules Damascus and opposes Israel.”
Rezon gathers men after David smote Hadadezer
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 11:23–25. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Kings 11:23–25
Read 1 Kings 11:23 with 11:23–25. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Introduces Rezon, a fugitive from Hadadezer, as another divinely raised adversary; summarizes Rezon's persistent hostility and Hadad's harm during Solomon's reign.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Rezon rules Damascus and opposes Israel,” 1 Kings 11:23 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 11:14–22 establishes this prior movement: Introduces Hadad, an Edomite royal survivor, as an adversary raised against Solomon; preserves Hadad's insistence on returning despite Pharaoh's claim that he lacks nothing. 1 Kings 11:23–25 continues the same royal, temple, household, prophetic, or military movement; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 11:23–25 together
Why these verses belong together: Rezon rules Damascus and opposes Israel is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 11:23–11:25.
Verse 23. 23 And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:
Verse 24. 24 And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus.
Verse 25. 25 And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.
What Remains True
Public power and worship remain accountable to truth, covenant faithfulness, affected people, and consequences rather than title, success, wealth, or majority support. This unit tests that truth through introduces Rezon, a fugitive from Hadadezer, as another divinely raised adversary; summarizes Rezon's persistent hostility and Hadad's harm during Solomon's reign. In 1 Kings 11:23, the concrete line “And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Kings 11:23–25 — Rezon rules Damascus and opposes IsraelSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 11:23–25, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 11:23–25
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 605–608, translation and translator notes for 11:23–25
Open source ↗