1 Kings 9:8

8 Everyone passing by this temple, as impressive as it is, will be appalled. They will gasp and ask, 'Why did the LORD do these things to this land and this temple?'

1 Kings 9:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 9:8

And at this house which is high
The house of the most High, as some render it, and in high esteem, fame, and glory, as well as it was built on an high hill, and was itself one hundred and twenty cubits high, ( 2 Chronicles 3:4 ) , the Targum is,

``and this house which was high shall be destroyed:''

everyone that passeth by it shall be astonished;
at the ruins of the temple, and of the city of Jerusalem, which had been so magnificent:

and shall hiss;
in scorn and derision of the people of Israel, rejoicing in their ruin:

and they shall say, why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to
this house?
or suffered it to be done, to lie thus in waste and ruins; a land in which it had been said he delighted, and looked unto from one end of the year to the other, and a house he had taken up his dwelling in; surely something more than ordinary, they suggest, must be the cause of all this.

1 Kings 9:8 In-Context

6 But if you and your descendants dare to turn away from me and do not keep my commands and laws that I gave to you, and follow and serve other gods and worship them,

7 then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them. I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name. Israel will be an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.

8 Everyone passing by this temple, as impressive as it is, will be appalled. They will gasp and ask, 'Why did the LORD do these things to this land and this temple?'

9 They will answer [themselves], 'They abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them. That is why the LORD brought this disaster on them.'"

10 It took Solomon 20 years to build the two houses (the LORD's house and the royal palace).