1 Kings 8:48-58

48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;
49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;
51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.
52 “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.
53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign LORD, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.
55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56 “Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.
57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors.

1 Kings 8:48-58 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.

Cross References 16

  • 1. S Deuteronomy 4:30
  • 2. S Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:12-14
  • 3. 1 John 1:8-10; Daniel 6:10
  • 4. Psalms 5:7; Psalms 11:4; John 2:4
  • 5. Deuteronomy 12:11-14; Nehemiah 1:9; Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 31:8
  • 6. 2 Kings 25:28; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Psalms 106:46; Daniel 1:9
  • 7. S Exodus 34:9; S Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:29; Nehemiah 1:10
  • 8. S Exodus 1:13; Isaiah 48:10; Jeremiah 11:4
  • 9. S ver 29
  • 10. Job 30:20; Psalms 3:4; Psalms 22:2; Psalms 77:1; Psalms 142:1
  • 11. Exodus 19:5; S Exodus 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:26-29
  • 12. S Exodus 39:43; Numbers 6:23; ver 14; 2 Samuel 6:18
  • 13. S Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 12:10; Hebrews 4:8
  • 14. S Joshua 21:45; Joshua 23:15; S Jeremiah 29:10
  • 15. S Deuteronomy 4:31; S Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5; S Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5
  • 16. S Joshua 24:23; Psalms 119:36
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