1 Raja-raja 8:33

8:33 “The time will come when ¹  your people Israel are defeated by an enemy ²  because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, ³  and pray for your help ⁴  in this temple,

1 Raja-raja 8:50

8:50 Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. ⁵ 

1 Raja-raja 8:49

8:49 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help ⁶  and vindicate them. ⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 8:51

8:51 After all, ⁸  they are your people and your special possession ⁹  whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. ¹⁰ 

1 Raja-raja 8:43

8:43 Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. ¹¹  Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, ¹²  obey ¹³  you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. ¹⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 8:48

8:48 When they return to you with all their heart and being ¹⁵  in the land where they are held prisoner, ¹⁶  and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, ¹⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 8:30

8:30 Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. ¹⁸  Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place ¹⁹  and respond favorably. ²⁰ 

1 Raja-raja 8:35

8:35 “The time will come when ²¹  the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people ²²  sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, ²³  and turn away from their sin because you punish ²⁴  them,

1 Raja-raja 8:39

8:39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, ²⁵  and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. ²⁶  (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) ²⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 8:46-47

8:46 “The time will come when your people ²⁸  will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, ²⁹  whether far away or close by. 8:47 When your people ³⁰  come to their senses ³¹  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray; ³²  we have done evil.’

1 Raja-raja 8:52-53

8:52 “May you be attentive ³³  to your servant’s and your people Israel’s requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. ³⁴  8:53 After all, ³⁵  you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, ³⁶  just as you, O sovereign Lord, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

[8:33]  ¹ tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 33-34 actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[8:33]  ² tn Or “are struck down before an enemy.”

[8:33]  ³ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[8:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they pray and ask for help.”

[8:50]  ⁵ tn Heb “and forgive your people who have sinned against you, [forgive] all their rebellious acts by which they rebelled against you, and grant them mercy before their captors so they will show them mercy.”

[8:49]  ⁶ tn Heb “their prayer and their request for help.”

[8:49]  ⁷ tn Heb “and accomplish their justice.”

[8:51]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[8:51]  ⁹ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[8:51]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term כּוּר (kur, “furnace,” cf. Akkadian ku„ru) is a metaphor for the intense heat of purification. A כּוּר was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19). Thus Egypt served not as a place of punishment for the Israelites, but as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[8:51]  sn From the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. The metaphor of a furnace suggests fire and heat and is an apt image to remind the people of the suffering they endured while slaves in Egypt.

[8:43]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and do all which the foreigner calls to [i.e., “requests of”] you.”

[8:43]  ¹² tn Heb “your name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in v. 41.

[8:43]  ¹³ tn Heb “fear.”

[8:43]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that your name is called over this house which I built.” The Hebrew idiom “to call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28.

[8:48]  ¹⁵ tn Or “soul.”

[8:48]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the land of their enemies.”

[8:48]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in v. 41.

[8:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel which they are praying concerning this place.”

[8:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and you, hear inside your dwelling place, inside heaven.” The precise nuance of the preposition אֶל (’el), used here with the verb “hear,” is unclear. One expects the preposition “from,” which appears in the parallel text in 2 Chr 6:21. The nuance “inside; among” is attested for אֶל (see Gen 23:19; 1 Sam 10:22; Jer 4:3), but in each case a verb of motion is employed with the preposition, unlike 1 Kgs 8:30. The translation above (“from inside”) is based on the demands of the immediate context rather than attested usage elsewhere.

[8:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hear and forgive.”

[8:35]  ²¹ tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 35-36a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[8:35]  ²² tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:35]  ²³ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[8:35]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). However, this reference to a divine answer is premature, since the next verse asks for God to intervene in mercy. It is better to revocalize the consonantal text as תְעַנֵּם (tÿ’annem, “you afflict them”), a Piel verb form from the homonym עָנָה (“to afflict”).

[8:39]  ²⁵ tn The words “their sin” are added for clarification.

[8:39]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and act and give to each one according to all his ways because you know his heart.” In the Hebrew text vv. 37-39a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided up for stylistic reasons.

[8:39]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Indeed you know, you alone, the heart of all the sons of mankind.”

[8:46]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:46]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the land of the enemy.”

[8:47]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:47]  ³¹ tn Or “stop and reflect”; Heb “bring back to their heart.”

[8:47]  ³² tn Or “done wrong.”

[8:52]  ³³ tn Heb “May your eyes be open.”

[8:52]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to listen to them in all their calling out to you.”

[8:53]  ³⁵ tn Or “For.”

[8:53]  ³⁶ tn Heb “your inheritance.”