1 Kings 9:1-9

Yahweh’s Challenge to Solomon

1 It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king's house, and all the things Solomon desired to do,
2 Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon.
3 Yahweh said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4 As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with {integrity of heart} and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and if] you keep my ordinances and my judgments,
5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.'
6 "If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them,
7 then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples.
8 This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?'
9 And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'"

1 Kings 9:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 9

This chapter relates a second vision Solomon had at Gibeon, in which he received an answer to his prayer in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 9:1-9 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, 1Ki 9:10-14, the places that Solomon built or repaired, 1Ki 9:15-19, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, 1Ki 9:20-23 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, 1Ki 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, 1Ki 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, 1Ki 9:26-28.

Footnotes 3

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.