God Appears to Solomon Again^(A)

9 After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build, ^2 (B)the Lord appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. ⁴ If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you, ^5 (C)I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. ⁶ But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods, ⁷ then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt. ^8 (D)This Temple will become a pile of ruins,^[a] and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?’ they will ask. ⁹ People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.’”