1 Kings 9:1-9

International Children’s Bible

The Lord Appears to Solomon Again

9 So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace. Solomon finished building everything he wanted to build. ² Then the Lord appeared to him again. This was just as he had done before, in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer. I have heard what you asked me to do. You built this Temple. And I have made it a holy place. So I will be worshiped there forever. I will watch over it and protect it always.

⁴ “But you must serve me as your father David did. He was fair and sincere. You must obey my laws and do everything I command. ⁵ If you do these things, I will allow your family to rule Israel forever. I made this promise to your father David. I told him that someone from his family would always be king over Israel.

⁶ “But you and your children must follow me. You must obey the laws and commands I have given you. You must not go off to serve or worship other gods. ⁷ If you do, I will force Israel to leave the land I have given them. I made the Temple holy for people to worship me there. But if you don’t obey me, I will tear it down. Then Israel will become a bad example, a joke, to other people. ⁸ If the Temple is destroyed, everyone who sees it will be shocked. They will make fun of you and ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this? Why did he do this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’ ⁹ Other people will answer, ‘This happened because they left the Lord their God. He brought their ancestors out of Egypt. But they decided to follow other gods. They worshiped and served those gods. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster to them.’”