1 Kings 8:37

37 If there shall be in the land famine, if there shall be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, [or] if there shall be caterpillar; if their enemy shall besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness [there shall be];

1 Kings 8:37 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 37 If there be in the land famine
Through want of rain, or any other cause, as there had been a three years' famine in the time of David, and it is supposed it might be again, though Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey:

if there be pestilence;
as there had been, for David's numbering the people:

blasting;
or blights, occasioned by the east wind:

mildew;
a kind of clammy dew, which falling on plants, corn corrupts and destroys them, see ( Amos 4:9 ) ,

locust,
or

if there be caterpillar;
creatures very pernicious to the fruits of the earth, and cause a scarcity of them, see ( Joel 1:4 ) ,

if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities;
so that they cannot go out to gather the increase of the earth, or till their land:

whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
whatever stroke from the hand of God, or what judgment or calamity soever befalls.

1 Kings 8:37 In-Context

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:

36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou mayest teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

37 If there shall be in the land famine, if there shall be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, [or] if there shall be caterpillar; if their enemy shall besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness [there shall be];

38 Whatever prayer and supplication shall be [made] by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands towards this house:

39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, [even] thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)