1 Kings 8:39 (WEB)

Passage

then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men);

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;

1 Kings 8:38 whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house,

1 Kings 8:39 then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men);

1 Kings 8:40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

1 Kings 8:41 “Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hear", "heaven", "dwelling", "place", "forgive", "ways", and "whose". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hear" and "heaven", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 38's "whatever prayer and supplication is made by..." into verse 40's "that they may fear you all the...", so "hear" 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 "hear" and "heaven" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.