📖WEB · 1 Kings 9:7
What does 1 Kings 9:7 mean?
"then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples."
— 1 Kings 9:7 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’
But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them;
then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land, and to this house?’
and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned Yahweh their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore Yahweh has brought all this evil on them.’”
At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahweh’s house and the king’s house
Explanation
1 Kings 9:7 records a solemn warning from God to Solomon, delivered after the completion and dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. In plain language, the verse says that if Israel turns away from God and disobeys him, God will remove the people from the land he gave them, reject the very Temple he had sanctified for his own name, and allow Israel to become an object of mockery and ridicule among the surrounding nations — a "proverb and byword," meaning their downfall would become a cautionary tale others would use to warn or mock others ("don't be like Israel").
This verse comes from a larger passage (1 Kings 9:1-9) in which God appears to Solomon a second time, following the dedication of the Temple described in chapters 6-8. The first appearance had been at Gibeon, where God granted Solomon wisdom. Now, after Solomon has built and consecrated the Temple, God confirms that he has heard Solomon's prayer of dedication and has indeed set the Temple apart as holy. But God immediately pairs this affirmation with a conditional warning: if Solomon and his descendants remain faithful, keeping God's statutes, the dynasty and the nation will endure. If they turn to idolatry and disobedience, however, the consequences will be severe — exile from the land and the desecration of the Temple itself. The verse in question is part of that warning, spelling out the specific curse: expulsion from the land, rejection of the Temple as a sacred dwelling place, and national humiliation among the nations.
Theologically, this passage underscores the con
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.