Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Kings 8:37 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 37. 37If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
At 1 Kings 8:37, the narrator names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them.
Read It With
- 1 Kings 8:37–8:40
Read 1 Kings 8:37 with 1 Kings 8:37–8:40, titled “Prayer amid famine, disease, siege, and personal grief.” Names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them.
Why This Verse Appears Here
1 Kings 8:37 names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them; this distinct detail carries 1 Kings 8:37–8:40 from “1 Kings 8:35–8:36 has just shown: Prayer during drought.” toward “1 Kings 8:41–8:43 next develops: Prayer for the foreigner who seeks God.”
Read 1 Kings 8:37–40 together
Why these verses belong together: Prayer amid famine, disease, siege, and personal grief is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 8:37–8:40.
Verse 37. 37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
Verse 38. 38 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:
Verse 39. 39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
Verse 40. 40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
Follow the Context
- Names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them
- States that the hoped-for outcome is enduring reverence in the land
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Temple prayer does not confine God, justify war, blame famine or exile sufferers, erase foreigners, or make national success a covenant entitlement.
What Remains True
Because 1 Kings 8:37 names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them, responsible reading keeps the narrated action, source limits, accountable agents, and affected people together; Temple prayer does not confine God, justify war, blame famine or exile sufferers, erase foreigners, or make national success a covenant entitlement.
How It Can Shape Life
- When an analogous issue arises, use 1 Kings 8:37 to name the specific conduct—names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them—then document power, evidence, uncertainty, safeguards, and people at risk.
Teach It Back
In 55–180 words, explain how 1 Kings 8:37 names famine, epidemic, crop disease, insects, siege, illness, and other afflictions without minimizing them, why it needs 1 Kings 8:37–8:40, and what the complete unit does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Kings 8:37–8:40 — Prayer amid famine, disease, siege, and personal griefSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The received Hebrew narrative and its KJV presentation are clear enough to follow this movement, while precise source history, chronology, motives, textual development, and external correlation require graded confidence rather than invented certainty.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 8:37–8:40, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 8:37–8:40
Open source ↗