1 Kings 8:39-49

39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart),
40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
41 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—
42 for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple,
43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near;
47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;
48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;
49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

1 Kings 8:39-49 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.

Cross References 22

  • 1. S ver 30
  • 2. Psalms 130:4
  • 3. S Joshua 22:22; S Psalms 44:21; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalms 11:4; Jeremiah 17:10; John 2:24; Acts 1:24; S Revelation 2:23
  • 4. ver 39-40; Deuteronomy 6:13; Psalms 103:11; Psalms 130:4
  • 5. S Deuteronomy 12:1
  • 6. S Genesis 31:15; Isaiah 56:3,6; Isaiah 61:5
  • 7. 1 Kings 10:1; Isaiah 60:3; Acts 8:27
  • 8. Deuteronomy 3:24
  • 9. S Joshua 4:24; S 1 Samuel 17:46; 2 Kings 19:19
  • 10. Psalms 102:15
  • 11. S Deuteronomy 28:10
  • 12. 1 Chronicles 5:20; 2 Chronicles 14:11
  • 13. Psalms 9:4; Psalms 140:12
  • 14. Psalms 130:3; Psalms 143:2; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20; S Romans 3:9; 1 John 1:8-10
  • 15. Leviticus 26:33-39; S Deuteronomy 4:27; S Deuteronomy 21:10; S Deuteronomy 28:64; 2 Kings 25:21
  • 16. S ver 30; S Leviticus 5:5; Leviticus 26:40; Ezra 9:15; Nehemiah 1:6; Jeremiah 14:20
  • 17. Ezra 9:7; Psalms 106:6; Jeremiah 3:25; Daniel 9:5
  • 18. S Deuteronomy 4:30
  • 19. S Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:12-14
  • 20. 1 John 1:8-10; Daniel 6:10
  • 21. Psalms 5:7; Psalms 11:4; John 2:4
  • 22. Deuteronomy 12:11-14; Nehemiah 1:9; Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 31:8
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