1 Kings 9:6

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,

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses Solomon at the conclusion of the temple dedication, framing the continuation of the Davidic throne as conditional on royal obedience.

The words — אִם ('im) translates as "if," and שׁוּב (shuv) means "to turn back," structuring the covenant as a conditional pathway rather than an unconditional guarantee.

The thread — This conditional framework runs parallel to the Davidic promise in 2 Samuel 7:14, the exhortation to wholehearted service in 1 Chronicles 28:9, and the warning of covenant consequences in Joshua 23:15.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to treat inherited spiritual privilege as requiring active maintenance, making conscious obedience the necessary condition for enduring blessing.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אִם־'im-<if>שׁ֨וֹבShovcertainly [if] <to turn back>תְּשֻׁב֜וּןte.shu.Vu/nyou will turn back/ !אַתֶּ֤ם'a.Temyou וּבְנֵיכֶם֙u./ve.nei./Khemand/ descendants/ your מֵֽאַחֲרַ֔יme./'a.cha.Ra/ifrom/ after/ me וְלֹ֤אve./Lo'and/ not תִשְׁמְרוּ֙tish.me.Ruyou will keep מִצְוֹתַ֣יmitz.vo.Ta/icommandments/ my חֻקֹּתַ֔יchu.ko.Ta/istatutes/ my אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich נָתַ֖תִּיna.Ta.tiI have set לִפְנֵיכֶ֑םli/f.nei./Khem<to>/ before/ you וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֗םva./ha.lakh.Temand/ you will walk וַעֲבַדְתֶּם֙va./'a.vad.Temand/ you will serve אֱלֹהִ֣ים'E.lo.Himgods אֲחֵרִ֔ים'a.che.Rimother וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶ֖םve./hish.ta.cha.vi.Temand/ you will bow downלָהֶֽם׃la./Hemto/ them

King James Version

But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Cross-references

2 Samuel 7:14 I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
Joshua 23:15 But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
1 Samuel 2:30 Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.
1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
2 Chronicles 7:19 But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
2 Chronicles 15:2 So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Psalms 89:30 If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,
Psalms 89:32 I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes.