1 Kings 8:38

then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Solomon addresses the gathered assembly of Israel while standing before the altar, framing this verse as the concluding clause of a conditional prayer for times of national distress.

The words — The text pairs תְּפִלָּ֣ה (tefilah) meaning "prayer" with תְּחִנָּ֗ה (teḥinnah) meaning "supplication," both governed by כָּל־ (kol) to indicate "every" instance.

The thread — The linkage of personal affliction to directed prayer appears in the crisis list of 1 Kings 8:37 and the internal grief described in Psalms 73:21, while 1 Kings 8:39 immediately follows with God's response from heaven.

Why it lands — The verse demands that readers identify their specific distress and voice it directly to God, acknowledging that He alone knows the heart behind the words.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

Cross-references

1 Kings 8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,
Psalms 73:21 When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,
Amos 7:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
2 Chronicles 20:5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the LORD in front of the new courtyard
Psalms 42:6 O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—even from Mount Mizar.
Psalms 42:9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
Psalms 42:11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Psalms 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
Psalms 91:15 When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.