1 Kings 9:1-9

The LORD’s Response to Solomon

1 Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do, 1
2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.
4 And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,
5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
6 But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.
8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, [a] all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
9 And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

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.

Cross References 1

  • 1. (2 Chronicles 7:11–22)

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Some LXX manuscripts, Syriac, and Arabic; Hebrew And though this temple is now exalted; see also 2 Chronicles 7:21.
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