1 Kings 8:45 (LSB)

Passage

then listen in heaven to their prayer and their supplication, and do justice.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:43 listen in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and to know that Your name is called upon this house which I have built.

1 Kings 8:44 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

1 Kings 8:45 then listen in heaven to their prayer and their supplication, and do justice.

1 Kings 8:46 “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

1 Kings 8:47 and if they cause these things to return to their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and return and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "listen", "heaven", "prayer", "supplication", and "justice". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "listen" and "heaven", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 44's "When Your people go out to battle..." into verse 46's "When they sin against You for there...", so "listen" and "heaven" 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 "listen" and "heaven" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.