Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
Parallel translations
- WEB Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
- KJV And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
- NKJV And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.
- NASB And listen to the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive!
- NLT May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon asks God to hear from heaven the prayers of king and people, and to forgive. It joins hearing prayer with forgiving sin.
Overview
The petition asks that when Israel prays toward the temple, God would hear from His true dwelling place, heaven, and forgive. Forgiveness is woven into the very purpose of the temple's prayers. This anticipates the gospel, where God hears and forgives sinners through the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 1 Kgs 8:39be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—
- 1 Kgs 8:36then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
- 1 Kgs 8:34then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.
- Dan 9:19O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”
- Isa 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Ps 130:3–4If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
- Eccl 5:2Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.
- Ps 33:13–14The LORD looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
- Ps 113:5–6Who is like the LORD our God, the One enthroned on high?
- Matt 6:12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
- 1 Kgs 8:49then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause.
- 2 Chr 6:21Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
- 2 Chr 20:8–9They have lived in the land and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying,
- Neh 1:5–6Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments,
- Ps 85:2You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah
- Ps 123:1A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- 1 Kgs 8:43then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
- Matt 6:9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
- 2 Chr 7:14and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 8:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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