1 Kings 8:30 (WEB)

Passage

Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:28 Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;

1 Kings 8:29 that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.

1 Kings 8:30 Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

1 Kings 8:31 “If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

1 Kings 8:32 then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "listen", "supplication", "servant", "people", "israel", "pray", "toward", and "place". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "listen" and "supplication", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 29's "that your eyes may be open toward..." into verse 31's "If a man sins against his neighbor...", so "listen" and "supplication" 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 "supplication" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.