1 Kings 8:49 (DBY)

Passage

then hear thou in the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right;

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:47 and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done iniquity, we have dealt perversely;

1 Kings 8:48 and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

1 Kings 8:49 then hear thou in the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right;

1 Kings 8:50 and forgive thy people their sin against thee, and all their transgressions whereby they have transgressed against thee, and give them to find compassion with those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

1 Kings 8:51 (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron)

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hear", "thou", "heavens", "settled", "place", "dwelling", "prayer", and "supplication". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hear" and "thou", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 48's "and if they return unto thee with..." into verse 50's "and forgive thy people their sin against...", so "hear" and "thou" 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 "hear" and "thou" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.