1 Kings 9:3

3 ADONAI said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me: I am consecrating this house which you built and placing my name there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.

1 Kings 9:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 9:3

And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy
supplication that thou hast made before me
With delight and pleasure, and had accepted it; meaning the prayer recorded in the preceding chapter:

I have hallowed this house which thou hast built;
by the cloud of glory filling it, and by fire descending from heaven, and consuming the sacrifices offered in it, ( 2 Chronicles 7:1 )

to put my name there for ever;
there to grant his presence, so long as his pure worship should be continued in it; so the Targum adds,

``and my Shechinah or divine Majesty shall abide in it, if my will is done there continually:''

and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually;
his eyes of Providence should be upon it, to watch over it, and protect it, and his worshippers in it; and he should have a cordial regard to the sacrifices there offered, and to the persons of the offerers, so long as they offered them in a right way, and to right ends and purposes.

1 Kings 9:3 In-Context

1 After Shlomo had finished building the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and everything else he wanted to build for himself,

2 ADONAI appeared to Shlomo a second time, as he had appeared to him in Giv'on.

3 ADONAI said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me: I am consecrating this house which you built and placing my name there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.

4 As for you, if you will live in my presence, as did David your father, in pureness of heart and uprightness, doing everything I have ordered you to do, and observing my laws and rulings;

5 then I will establish the throne of your rulership over Isra'el forever, just as I promised David your father when I said, 'You will never lack a man on the throne of Isra'el.'