1 Kings 8:23-33

23 He said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, ¹there is no God like You in heaven above * or on earth beneath *, ²keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart,

24 who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day.

25 "Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, '³You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.'

26 "Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed ⁴which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, ⁵heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much * less this house which I have built!

28 "Yet have regard to the ⁶prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;

29 ⁷that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward ⁸the place of which You have said, 'My name shall be there,' to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

30 "⁹Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, ¹⁰when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and ¹¹forgive.

31 "¹²If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house,

32 then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, ¹³condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

33 "¹⁴When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, ¹⁵if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house,

Read Chapter Compare

1 Kings 8:23-33 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 7:22
2. Deuteronomy 7:9; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 9:32; Daniel 9:4
3. 1 Kings 2:4
4. 2 Samuel 7:25
5. 2 Chronicles 2:6; Psalms 139:7-16; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 7:49
6. Philippians 4:6
7. 2 Chronicles 7:15; Nehemiah 1:6
8. Deuteronomy 12:11
9. Nehemiah 1:6
10. Daniel 6:10
11. Exodus 34:6, 7; Psalms 85:2; Daniel 9:9; 1 John 1:9
12. Exodus 22:8-11
13. Deuteronomy 25:1
14. Leviticus 26:17, 25; Deuteronomy 28:25, 48
15. Leviticus 26:40-42

Footnotes 5

[a]. Lit "spoken to"
[b]. Lit "spoken to"
[c]. Lit "There shall not be cut off to you a man from before Me"
[d]. Lit "heaven of heavens"
[e]. Lit "smitten"