1 Kings 9:8

8 This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. "Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?' they will ask. ¹

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 or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods,

7 then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt.

8 This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. "Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?' they will ask.

9 People will answer, "It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.' "

10 It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace.

Cross References

• 1. 9.8 2 K 25.9;2 Chronicles 36.19.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] a pile of ruins; [Hebrew] high.