1 Kings 8:46

46 "If they sin against you--¹for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive ²to the land of the enemy, far off or near,

1 Kings 8:46 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:46

If they sin against thee
The same persons when they were gone forth to battle, not observing the divine commands as they should:

for there is no man that sinneth not;
such are the depravity of human nature, the treachery of the heart, and the temptations of Satan, of which Solomon had early notice, and was afterwards still more confirmed in the truth of, ( Ecclesiastes 7:20 )

and thou be angry with them;
for their sins, and resent their conduct:

so as to deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away
captive unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
as into Assyria or Babylon, whither they were carried.

1 Kings 8:46 In-Context

44 "If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,

45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

46 "If they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,

47 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,'

48 if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,

Cross References

• 1. Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8, 10
• 2. Leviticus 26:34, 44; Deuteronomy 28:36, 64