Bible Strands
1 Kings 8:61
So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Solomon addresses the assembled congregation of Israel during the temple dedication, closing his prayer of consecration. He urges the people to maintain their current commitment to Yahweh as they leave the ceremony.
The words — The phrase לְבַבְכֶם שָׁלֵם עִם יְהוָה (levavkhem shalem im YHWH) literally renders "your heart complete with Yahweh." The infinitive לָלֶכֶת (lalékhét) denotes the sustained action of walking in accordance with divine statutes.
The thread — This requirement of undivided devotion appears in 1 Kings 11:4 as a record of Solomon’s later failure, and in 1 Kings 15:14 and 2 Kings 20:3 as descriptions of kings who preserved wholehearted commitment to Yahweh.
Why it lands — The text demands ongoing obedience to God’s commands rather than a single moment of ceremonial loyalty. It requires readers to align their daily conduct with their professed allegiance.
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
Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- 2 Kings 20:3 “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- 1 Kings 15:14 The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.
- Deuteronomy 18:13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God.
- 1 Kings 15:3 And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been.
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
- Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”
- Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.