1 Kings 8:52 (WEB)

Passage

that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

1 Kings 8:51 (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace);

1 Kings 8:52 that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.

1 Kings 8:53 For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh.”

1 Kings 8:54 It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before Yahweh’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 51's "for they are your people and your..." into verse 53's "For you separated them from among all...", so "eyes" and "open" 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 "eyes" and "open" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.