1 Kings 8:47

47 if they change their heart in whatever land they are held captive, changing their lives and begging for your mercy, saying, "We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly!"

1 Kings 8:47 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:47

Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they
were carried captives
Or, "return to their heart" ^F1; remember their sins, the cause of their captivity, and reflect upon them:

and repent of them, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them
that carried them captives;
though and while they are in such a state:

saying, we have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed
wickedness;
which phrases include all their sins, with all the aggravated circumstances of them, and their sense of them, and contrition for them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Nbl la wbyvhw) "et reversi fuerint ad cor suum", Pagninas, Montanus, Vatablus.

1 Kings 8:47 In-Context

45 then listen from heaven to their prayer and request and do what is right for them.

46 When they sin against you (for there is no one who doesn't sin) and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to enemy territory, whether distant or nearby,

47 if they change their heart in whatever land they are held captive, changing their lives and begging for your mercy, saying, "We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly!"

48 and if they return to you with all their heart and all their being in the enemy territory where they've been taken captive, and pray to you, toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name,

49 then listen to their prayer and request from your heavenly dwelling place. Do what is right for them,

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb adds in the land they are held captive.