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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 8:39then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)
- 1 Kgs 8:36then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
- 1 Kgs 8:34then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.
- Dan 9:19Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, listen and do; don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.
- Isa 57:15For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- Ps 130:3–4If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
- Eccl 5:2Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
- Ps 33:13–14Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men.
- Ps 113:5–6Who is like Yahweh, our God, who has his seat on high,
- Matt 6:12Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
- 1 Kgs 8:49then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;
- 2 Chr 6:21Listen to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
- 2 Chr 20:8–9They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,
- Neh 1:5–6and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:
- Ps 85:2You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. Selah.
- Ps 123:1A Song of Ascents. To you I do lift up my eyes, you who sit in the heavens.
- 1 Kgs 8:43hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
- Matt 6:9Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
- 2 Chr 7:14if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will 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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