1 Kings 8:44-54

44 "When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and ¹they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 "When they sin against You (for ²there is no man who does not sin ) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive ³to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

47 ⁴if they take thought in the land where * they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, '⁵We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly ';

48 ⁶if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and ⁷pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name;

49 then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and ⁸make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them

51 (⁹for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, ¹⁰from the midst of the iron furnace ),

52 ¹¹that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You.

53 "For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, ¹²as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord GOD."

Solomon's Benediction

54 ¹³When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD, ¹⁴he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven.

1 Kings 8:44-54 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. 2 Chronicles 14:11
• 2. Psalms 130:3, 4; Psalms 143:2; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10
• 3. Leviticus 26:34-39; 2 Kings 17:6, 18; 2 Kings 25:21
• 4. Leviticus 26:40-42; Nehemiah 9:2
• 5. Ezra 9:6, 7; Nehemiah 1:6; Psalms 106:6; Daniel 9:5
• 6. Deuteronomy 4:29; 1 Samuel 7:3, 4; Nehemiah 1:9
• 7. Daniel 6:10; Jonah 2:4
• 8. 2 Chronicles 30:9; Psalms 106:46; Acts 7:10
• 9. Exodus 32:11, 12; Deuteronomy 9:26-29
• 10. Deuteronomy 4:20; Jeremiah 11:4
• 11. 1 Kings 8:29
• 12. Exodus 19:5, 6; Deuteronomy 9:26-29
• 13. 2 Chronicles 7:1
• 14. 2 Chronicles 6:13

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "his"
• [b] Lit in "the way of"
• [c] Lit "right" or "justice"
• [d] Lit "their captors take them captive"
• [e] Lit "return to their heart"
• [f] Lit "judgment"
• [g] Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
• [h] Lit "palms"