1 Kings 9:1–9

THE LORD’S RESPONSE

9When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord,^u the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,^{v 2}the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.^{w 3}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^A my name there forever;^x my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.^y

⁴As 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,^{z 5}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.^aa

⁶If 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 bow in worship to them,^{ab 7}I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,^ac and I will reject^B the temple I have sanctified for my name.^ad Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.^{ae 8}Though this temple is now exalted,^C everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.^D They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”^{af 9}Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”^a