1 Kings 8:38

38 Whatsoever curse or imprecation shall happen to any man of thy people Israel: when a man shall know the wound of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands in this house;

1 Kings 8:38 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:38

What prayer and supplication soever
On account of any of the above things, or any other:

be [made] by any man, or by all the people Israel;
by a private man, for such an one might go to the temple and pray by himself; see ( Luke 18:10 Luke 18:11 ) or by the public congregation:

which shall know every man the plague of his own heart;
be sensible of his sin as the cause of his distress, and own it, though ever so privately committed, which none knows but God and his own heart; and which may be only an heart sin, not actually committed; as all sin is originally in the heart, and springs from it, that is the source of all wickedness; it may respect the corruption of nature, indwelling sin, which truly deserves this name, and which every good man is led to observe, confess, and bewail, ( Psalms 51:4 Psalms 51:5 ) . In ( 2 Chronicles 6:29 ) it is,

shall know his own sore and his own grief;
what particularly affects him, and gives him pain and sorrow, as every man best knows his own affliction and trouble, and so can best represent his own case to the Lord:

and spread forth his hands towards this house;
pray with his face towards it, and his hands spread out, a prayer gesture, and what was now used by Solomon, ( 1 Kings 8:22 ) .

1 Kings 8:38 In-Context

36 Then hear thou them in heaven, and forgive the sins of thy servants, and of thy people Israel: and shew them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people in possession.

37 If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew; if their enemy afflict them, besieging the gates, whatsoever plague, whatsoever infirmity,

38 Whatsoever curse or imprecation shall happen to any man of thy people Israel: when a man shall know the wound of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands in this house;

39 Then hear thou in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and do so as to give to every one according to his ways, as thou shalt see his heart (for thou only knowest the heart of all the children of men)

40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers.