1 Kings 9:1-9

The Lord Gives Solomon a Promise and a Warning

9:1 After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, ¹  9:2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ²  9:3 The Lord said to him, “I have answered ³  your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; ⁴  I will be constantly present there. ⁵  9:4 You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ⁶  9:5 Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, ⁷  just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ⁸ 

9:6 “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, ⁹  and decide to serve and worship other gods, ¹⁰  9:7 then I will remove Israel from the land ¹¹  I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, ¹²  and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed ¹³  among all the nations. 9:8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; ¹⁴  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, ¹⁵  saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ 9:9 Others will then answer, ¹⁶  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ¹⁷  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ¹⁸  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and all the desire of Solomon which he wanted to do.”

[9:2]  ² sn In the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. See 1 Kgs 3:5.

[9:3]  ³ tn Heb “I have heard.”

[9:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “by placing my name there perpetually” (or perhaps, “forever”).

[9:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.”

[9:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, by doing all which I commanded you, [and] you keep my rules and my regulations.” Verse 4 is actually a lengthy protasis (“if” section) of a conditional sentence, the apodosis (“then” section) of which appears in v. 5.

[9:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever.”

[9:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from upon the throne of Israel.”

[9:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “which I placed before you.”

[9:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and walk and serve other gods and bow down to them.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will cut off Israel from upon the surface of the land.”

[9:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and the temple which I consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face.”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “will become a proverb and a taunt,” that is, a proverbial example of destruction and an object of reproach.

[9:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and this house will be high [or elevated].” The statement makes little sense in this context, which predicts the desolation that judgment will bring. Some treat the clause as concessive, “Even though this temple is lofty [now].” Others, following the lead of several ancient versions, emend the text to, “this temple will become a heap of ruins.”

[9:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.

[9:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they will say.”

[9:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

[9:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they took hold of other gods and bowed down to them and served them.”