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The Lord said to him: I have heard the prayer of petition which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this house which you have built and I set my name there forever; my eyes and my heart shall be there always. As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, wholeheartedly and uprightly, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping my statutes and ordinances, (A)I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father: There shall never be wanting someone from your line on the throne of Israel. But if ever you and your descendants turn from following me, fail to keep my commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to serve other gods and bow down to them, I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the house I have consecrated for my name. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all nations, (B)and this house shall become a heap of ruins. Every passerby shall gasp in horror and ask, “Why has the Lord done such things to this land and to this house?” And the answer will come: “Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods, bowing down to them and serving them. That is why the Lord has brought upon them all this evil.”

After Building the Temple.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 9:10–25 This unit of the Solomon story corresponds to 5:15–32. It comprises the same two themes, negotiations with Hiram of Tyre (vv. 10–14) and use of conscripted labor (vv. 15–23); the last two verses mark the end of the account of Solomon’s building projects (vv. 24–25). Chronicles has an incomplete parallel in 2 Chr 8:1–13.

The Lord said to him:

“I have heard(A) the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name(B) there forever. My eyes(C) and my heart will always be there.

“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart(D) and uprightness, as David(E) your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,(F) I will establish(G) your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail(H) to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

“But if you[a] or your descendants turn away(I) from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods(J) and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land(K) I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name.(L) Israel will then become a byword(M) and an object of ridicule(N) among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled(O) and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’(P) People will answer,(Q) ‘Because they have forsaken(R) the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster(S) on them.’”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  2. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  3. 1 Kings 9:8 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now imposing, all