1 Kings 8:37 (ASV)

Passage

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:

1 Kings 8:36 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

1 Kings 8:37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

1 Kings 8:38 what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

1 Kings 8:39 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "land", "famine", "pestilence", "blasting", "mildew", "locust", "caterpillar", and "enemy". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "land" and "famine", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 36's "then hear thou in heaven and forgive..." into verse 38's "what prayer and supplication soever be made...", so "land" and "famine" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "land" and "famine" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.