1 Kings 8:38

38 cuncta devotatio et inprecatio quae acciderit omni homini de populo tuo Israhel si quis cognoverit plagam cordis sui et expanderit manus suas in domo hac

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 exaudi eos in caelo et dimitte peccata servorum tuorum et populi tui Israhel et ostende eis viam bonam per quam ambulent et da pluviam super terram tuam quam dedisti populo tuo in possessionem

37 fames si oborta fuerit in terra aut pestilentia aut corruptus aer aurugo lucusta rubigo et adflixerit eum et inimicus eius portas obsidens omnis plaga universa infirmitas

38 cuncta devotatio et inprecatio quae acciderit omni homini de populo tuo Israhel si quis cognoverit plagam cordis sui et expanderit manus suas in domo hac

39 tu audies in caelo in loco habitationis tuae et repropitiaberis et facies ut des unicuique secundum omnes vias suas sicut videris cor eius quia tu nosti solus cor omnium filiorum hominum

40 ut timeant te cunctis diebus quibus vivunt super faciem terrae quam dedisti patribus nostris