1 Kings 8:29 (DBY)

Passage

that thine eyes may be open upon this house night and day, upon the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

1 Kings 8:28 Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day;

1 Kings 8:29 that thine eyes may be open upon this house night and day, upon the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

1 Kings 8:30 And hearken unto the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou in thy dwelling-place, in the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive.

1 Kings 8:31 If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thine", "eyes", "open", "upon", "house", "night", and "place". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thine" and "eyes", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 28's "Yet have respect unto the prayer of..." into verse 30's "And hearken unto the supplication of thy...", so "thine" and "eyes" 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 "thine" and "eyes" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.