Bible Strands
1 Kings 9:9
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.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text records a future public inquiry where bystanders ask why the LORD ruined the temple and land (1 Kings 9:8), followed by an unnamed group answering that disaster resulted from abandoning Yahweh and worshipping other gods. This occurs within Solomon’s covenant warning regarding the conditional endurance of the temple and nation.
The words — The verb עָזְב֜וּ ('a.ze.Vu) literally means "they forsook" [H5800], indicating a deliberate severing of covenant relationship.
The thread — This cause-and-effect pattern reappears in Deuteronomy 29:25, where abandoned covenants explain national judgment, and in Jeremiah 2:19 and 5:19, where self-inflicted discipline and public questioning echo the same apostasy-to-disaster sequence.
Why it lands — The passage states that idolatry and covenant abandonment directly trigger historical judgment, requiring readers to acknowledge that divine discipline follows explicit rejection of the God who initiated redemption.
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
King James Version
And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 5:19 And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
- Deuteronomy 29:25 And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
- 2 Chronicles 7:22 And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.’”
- Jeremiah 2:10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
- Jeremiah 12:7 I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the beloved of My soul into the hands of her enemies.
- Jeremiah 16:10 When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
- Jeremiah 50:7 All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
- Lamentations 2:16 All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- Lamentations 4:13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.