1 Kings 8:57-61

57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. ¹May he not leave us or forsake us,

58 that he may ²incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

59 Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,

60 that ³all the peoples of the earth may know that ⁴the Lord is God; there is no other.

61 ⁵Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day. ”

1 Kings 8:57-61 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

• 1. 8:57 [Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:5; 1 Sam. 12:22]
• 2. 8:58 Ps. 119:36
• 3. 8:60 ver. 43
• 4. 8:60 Deut. 4:35, 39; [ch. 18:39]
• 5. 8:61 2 Kgs. 20:3; [ch. 11:4; 15:3, 14]