THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
The answer
1 Kings 2:4. On his deathbed David passes Solomon the Lord's word: "If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel." 2 Samuel 7:16 had said "your throne shall be established forever," with no if.
Why it’s interesting
The note in the New Oxford Annotated Bible reads the condition as a later rewording, written during the exile, the years after Babylon conquered Judah and ended its line of kings. It explains how a throne promised forever could still fall. Chronicles, telling the promise its own way, also ties it to Solomon's obedience (1 Chronicles 28:7).
Scholarly consensus
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