1 Kings 9:9

9 Then they'll be told, 'The people who used to live here betrayed their God, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this God-visited devastation.'"

1 Kings 9:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 9:9

And they shall answer
Who were left in the land when others were carried captive, as were some by Nebuchadnezzar, and who were capable of making the following answer:

because they forsook the Lord;
the worship of the Lord their God, as the Targum:

who brought forth their fathers out of the land Egypt;
which is observed as an aggravation of their sin:

and have taken hold upon other gods:
the gods of the people, as the Targum; of the Gentiles, who knew not the true God:

and have worshipped them, and served them:
even idols of gold and silver, wood and stone; an instance of judicial blindness they were left unto, who had been favoured with a revelation from God:

therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil;
their idolatry was the cause of it, than which nothing is more provoking to God.

1 Kings 9:9 In-Context

7 then the guarantee is off: I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world.

8 And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt; visitors will shake their heads, saying, 'Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?'

9 Then they'll be told, 'The people who used to live here betrayed their God, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this God-visited devastation.'"

10 At the end of twenty years, having built the two buildings, The Temple of God and his personal palace,

11 Solomon rewarded Hiram king of Tyre with a gift of twenty villages in the district of Galilee. Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and cypress and gold that he had wanted.