1 Kings 8:40

40 [Do these things] so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.

1 Kings 8:40 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:40

That they may fear thee
For his goodness sake in hearing their prayer, removing their affliction, and bestowing his blessings on them, particularly in forgiving their sins, see ( Psalms 130:4 ) ( Hosea 3:5 )

all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our
fathers;
not only for the present, while the mercy is fresh, but all the days of their lives; to which they were the more obliged by the good land they possessed as a divine gift, and which they held by the tenure of their obedience, ( Isaiah 1:19 ) .

1 Kings 8:40 In-Context

38 any prayer or any plea which is [offered] by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his [own] heart and spreads out his palms to this house,

39 then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man.

40 [Do these things] so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.

41 Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name,

42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "fathers"