1 Kings 9:6

THE MESSAGE

"But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off: I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt; visitors will shake their heads, saying, ‘Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?' Then they'll be told, ‘The people who used to live here betrayed their God , the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this God -visited devastation.'"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands—my statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,

Hebrew Names Version
But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my mitzvot and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship 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:

English Standard Version
But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

New Century Version
"But you and your children must follow me and obey the laws and commands I have given you. You must not serve or worship other gods.

New English Translation
"But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods,

Amplified Bible
"But if you or your sons turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

New American Standard Bible
"But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have placed before you, but you go and serve other gods and worship them,

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if ye & your children turne away from mee, and wil not keepe my commaundements, and my statutes (which I haue set before you) but go and serue other gods, and worship them,

Legacy Standard Bible
"But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have given before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

Contemporary English Version
But if you or any of your descendants disobey my commands or start worshiping foreign gods,

Complete Jewish Bible
But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and do not observe my mitzvot and regulations which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, worshipping them;

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

Easy-to-Read Version
"But if you or your children stop following me, and don't obey the laws and commands that I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, I will force Israel to leave the land that I have given to them. Israel will be an example to other people. Other people will make jokes about Israel. I made the Temple holy. It is the place where people honor me. But I will tear it down.

George Lamsa Translation
But if you shall indeed turn from following me, you 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;

Good News Translation
But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods,

Lexham English Bible
"If ever you or any of your descendants turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them,

Literal Translation
If you at all turn back, you and your sons, from following me, and do not keep My commands, My statutes which I have set before you, and you shall go and serve other gods and bow yourselves to them,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf ye turne back fro me, ye and youre childre, and kepe not my commaundementes and ordinaunces which I haue layed before you, but go and serue other goddes, and worshipe them,

American Standard Version
But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

Bible in Basic English
But if you are turned from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But and if ye and your children turne away from me, and will not kepe my commaundementes and my statutes whiche I haue set before you, but go and serue other gods, & worship them:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But if ye shall turn away from following Me, ye or your children, and not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

King James Version (1611)
But if you shall at all turne from following me, you or your children, and will not keepe my Commandements, and my Statutes, which I haue set before you, but goe and serue other gods, and worship them:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if ye or your children do in any wise revolt from me, and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances, which Moses set before you, and ye go and serve other gods, and worship them:

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

Berean Standard Bible
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,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe if bi turnyng awei ye and youre sones turnen awey, and suen not me, and kepen not myn hestis and cerymonyes, whiche Y settide forth to you, but ye goen, and worschipen alien goddis, and onouren hem `bi outward reuerence,

Young's Literal Translation
`If ye at all turn back -- you and your sons -- from after Me, and keep not My commands -- My statutes, that I have set before you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them,

Update Bible Version
But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your sons, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

Webster's Bible Translation
[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:

World English Bible
But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

New King James Version
But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

New Living Translation
"But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods,

New Life Bible
But if you or your sons turn away from following Me, and do not keep My Laws which I have given you, and go after other gods and worship them, if you do,

New Revised Standard
"If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If ye, turn back, ye or your sons, from following me, and keep not my commandments, my statutes, which I have set before you, - but depart and serve other gods, and bow yourselves down to them,

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if you and your children, revolting, shall turn away from following me, and will not keep my commandments, and my ceremonies, which I have set before you, but will go and worship strange gods, and adore them:

Revised Standard Version
But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

Contextual Overview

¹After Solomon had completed building The Temple of God and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, God appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³And God said to him, "I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I'll back your kingly rule over Israel, make it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I'm giving you: ‘You can count on always having a descendant on Israel's throne.' ⁶"But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off: I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt; visitors will shake their heads, saying, ‘Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?' Then they'll be told, ‘The people who used to live here betrayed their God , the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this God -visited devastation.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if ye: 1 Samuel 2:30, 2 Samuel 7:14-16, 1 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 7:19-22, 2 Chronicles 15:2

go: 1 Kings 11:4-10, Joshua 23:15, Joshua 23:16

Reciprocal: Leviticus 14:45 - break down Joshua 22:18 - following 1 Samuel 15:11 - turned 2 Kings 22:17 - have forsaken Ezra 5:12 - he gave Ezra 9:7 - for our iniquities Nehemiah 1:8 - If ye transgress Isaiah 1:28 - they that Jeremiah 26:4 - If Ezekiel 12:16 - and they

Cross-References

Genesis 5:1
This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.

Genesis 9:5
"But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.

Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature. You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"

Genesis 9:12
God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth."

Genesis 9:28
Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.

Leviticus 24:17
"Anyone who hits and kills a fellow human must be put to death. Anyone who kills someone's animal must make it good—a life for a life. Anyone who injures his neighbor will get back the same as he gave: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. What he did to hurt that person will be done to him. Anyone who hits and kills an animal must make it good, but whoever hits and kills a fellow human will be put to death. And no double standards: the same rule goes for foreigners and natives. I am God , your God."

Numbers 35:33
"Don't pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can't be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.

Psalms 51:4
You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

Matthew 26:52
Jesus said, "Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don't you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?"

Romans 13:4
To Be a Responsible Citizen Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it's God's order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you're irresponsible to the state, then you're irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you're trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear. Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you're breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren't there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That's why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it's the right way to live. That's also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders. Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love. But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if you shall at all turn from following me, you or your children,.... From my worship, as the Targum; either Solomon or his successors, or the people of Israel and their posterity; should they turn their backs on God and his worship, meaning not in a single instance, or in some small degree; but as in the original, "if in turning ye turn" e, that is, utterly, and entirely, or wholly turn from him and his worship to other gods, as follows:

and will not keep my commandments and my statutes, which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: neglecting the will and worship of God, go into idolatrous practices, as Solomon himself did.

e אם שוב תשבון "si avertendo aversi fueritis", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

At all turn - Rather, “If ye shall wholly turn from following Me.” (See 2 Chronicles 7:19.) The Israelites were not to be cut off, except for an entire defection.