The Lord Appears to Solomon^(A)

9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all else he desired, ² the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and supplication, which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house which you built by putting My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴ “If you will walk before Me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that you are obedient to do all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My name, out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people. ⁸ And everyone who passes by this high house will be astonished and will hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land, and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and have worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ”