The Lord’s Response

When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord,(A) the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,(B) the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.(C) The Lord said to him:

I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put My name there forever;(D) My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.(E)

As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,(F) I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.(G)

If you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep My commands—My statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,(H) I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,(I) and I will reject[a] the temple I have sanctified for My name.(J) Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(K) Though this temple is now exalted,[b] everyone who passes by will be appalled and will mock.[c] They will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?(L) Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:7 Lit send from My presence
  2. 1 Kings 9:8 Some ancient versions read temple will become a ruin
  3. 1 Kings 9:8 Lit hiss

The Lord’s Response to Solomon

So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon. The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

“As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’

“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’”

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