Though this temple is now exalted,[a] everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.[b] They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”(A) Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”(B)

King Hiram’s Twenty Towns

10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 9:8 Some ancient versions read temple will become a ruin
  2. 9:8 Lit hiss

This Temple will become a heap of ruins, and everyone passing by will be amazed and will whistle with astonishment, asking, ‘Why has the Lord done such things to this land and this Temple?’ And the answer will be, ‘The people of Israel abandoned the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they worshiped other gods instead. That is why the Lord has brought this evil upon them.’”

10 At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built the Temple and the palace,

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