1 Kings 9:3

3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ¹by putting my name there forever. ²My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

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 As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,

2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,

5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. ’

Cross References

• 1. 9:3 ch. 8:16, 29
• 2. 9:3 Deut. 11:12