1 Kings 8:37

37 When there is famine on the earth, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the region of their fortified cities,^[a] [when there is] any plague or illness,

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 the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and they turn from their sins because You are afflicting them,

36 may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way they should walk in. May You send rain on Your land that You gave Your people for an inheritance.

37 When there is famine on the earth, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the region of their fortified cities, [when there is] any plague or illness,

38 whatever prayer or petition anyone from Your people Israel might have- each man knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple-

39 may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and may You forgive, act, and repay the man, according to all his ways, since You know his heart, for You alone know every human heart,

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit besieges him in the land of his gates