1
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,
2
the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3
The Lord said to him:
"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, 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 faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,
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I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'
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"But if you 1 or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you 1 and go off to serve other gods and worship them,
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then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
8
This temple will become a heap of rubble. All 3 who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?'
9
People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them - that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.' "