1 Kings 8:39

39 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart.

1 Kings 8:39 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:39

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace
Which was more properly so than this Solomon had built, and the Lord had taken possession of:

and forgive;
remove the calamity and distress, be it what it may:

and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart
thou knowest:
that his prayer is cordial and sincere, his confession and repentance genuine, and that he is truly sensible of his sin, and sorry for it, and is pure in his intentions and resolutions, through divine grace, to depart from it for the future:

(for thou, [even] thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of
men;)
he knows all men, the hearts of them all, what is in them, what comes out of them, and is according to them; omniscience belongs only to God; it is his prerogative to know the heart and search the reins, see ( Jeremiah 17:9 Jeremiah 17:10 ) .

1 Kings 8:39 In-Context

37 “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is—

38 and if your people Israel pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward this Temple,

39 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart.

40 Then they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

41 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name,