1 Kings 8:39

39 then hear their prayers from your home in heaven. Forgive and treat each person as he should be treated because you know what is in a person's heart. Only you know what is in everyone's heart.

1 Kings 8:39 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:39

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace
Which was more properly so than this Solomon had built, and the Lord had taken possession of:

and forgive;
remove the calamity and distress, be it what it may:

and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart
thou knowest:
that his prayer is cordial and sincere, his confession and repentance genuine, and that he is truly sensible of his sin, and sorry for it, and is pure in his intentions and resolutions, through divine grace, to depart from it for the future:

(for thou, [even] thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of
men;)
he knows all men, the hearts of them all, what is in them, what comes out of them, and is according to them; omniscience belongs only to God; it is his prerogative to know the heart and search the reins, see ( Jeremiah 17:9 Jeremiah 17:10 ) .

1 Kings 8:39 In-Context

37 "At times the land will become so dry that no food will grow, or a great sickness will spread among the people. Sometimes all the crops will be destroyed by locusts or grasshoppers. Your people will be attacked in their cities by their enemy or will become sick.
38 When any of these things happen, the people will become truly sorry. If your people spread their hands in prayer toward this Temple,
39 then hear their prayers from your home in heaven. Forgive and treat each person as he should be treated because you know what is in a person's heart. Only you know what is in everyone's heart.
40 Then your people will respect you as long as they live in this land you gave to our ancestors.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.