1 Kings 8:48

48 if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

1 Kings 8:48 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:48

And so return unto thee, with all their heart, and with
all their soul
In the most sincere and cordial manner, with great ingenuity and uprightness; the Targum is,

``return unto thy worship;''

relinquishing false worship they had given into, and serve the Lord in the best manner they could:

in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive;
and so at a distance from that temple, and the service of it, which

1 Kings 8:48 In-Context

46 "If they sin against thee--for there is no man who does not sin--and thou art angry with them, and dost give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
47 yet if they lay it to heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to thee in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned, and have acted perversely and wickedly';
48 if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;
49 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause
50 and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions which they have committed against thee; and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.