1 Kings 8:33 (DBY)

Passage

When thy people Israel are put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house;

Nearby Context

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;

1 Kings 8:32 then hear thou in the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

1 Kings 8:33 When thy people Israel are put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house;

1 Kings 8:34 then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest unto their fathers.

1 Kings 8:35 When the heavens are 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, because thou hast afflicted them;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "israel", "worse", "before", "enemy", "sinned", "against", and "thee". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "israel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 32's "then hear thou in the heavens and..." into verse 34's "then hear thou in the heavens and...", so "people" and "israel" 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 "people" and "israel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.