9 When Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and all the other buildings he had always wanted, ^2-3 the Lord appeared to him the second time (the first time had been at Gibeon) and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I have hallowed this Temple that you have built and have put my name here forever. I will constantly watch over it and rejoice in it. ⁴ And if you live in honesty and truth as your father David did, always obeying me, ⁵ then I will cause your descendants to be the kings of Israel forever, just as I promised your father David when I told him, ‘One of your sons shall always be upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “However, if you or your children turn away from me and worship other gods and do not obey my laws, ⁷ then I will take away the people of Israel from this land that I have given them. I will take them from this Temple which I have hallowed for my name, and I will cast them out of my sight; and Israel will become a joke to the nations and an example and proverb of sudden disaster. ⁸ 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?’ ⁹ 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.’”