1 Kings 8:33 (DRB)

Passage

If thy people Israel shall fly before their enemies (because they will sin against thee) and doing penance, and confessing to thy name, shall come and pray, and make supplications to thee in this house:

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and have an oath upon him, wherewith he is bound, and come, because of the oath, before thy altar, to thy house,

1 Kings 8:32 Then hear thou in heaven: and do and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, and bringing his way upon his own head, and justifying the just, and rewarding him according to his justice.

1 Kings 8:33 If thy people Israel shall fly before their enemies (because they will sin against thee) and doing penance, and confessing to thy name, shall come and pray, and make supplications to thee in this house:

1 Kings 8:34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.

1 Kings 8:35 If heaven shall be shut up, and there shall be no rain, because of their sins, and they, praying in this place, shall do penance to thy name, and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "israel", "shall", "before", "enemies", "against", "thee", and "doing". 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 heaven and do..." into verse 34's "Then hear thou in heaven and forgive...", 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.