Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Kings 8:41 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 41. 41Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Prayer for the foreigner who seeks God.”
Read It With
- 1 Kings 8:41–43
Read 1 Kings 8:41 with 8:41–43. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Turns the prayer toward a foreigner who comes from far away because of God's name; asks God to hear the foreigner so all peoples may know and revere the divine name.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Prayer for the foreigner who seeks God,” 1 Kings 8:41 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 8:37–40 establishes this prior movement: 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. 1 Kings 8:41–43 responds to the pressure, request, or claim already established; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 8:41–43 together
Why these verses belong together: Prayer for the foreigner who seeks God is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 8:41–8:43.
Verse 41. 41 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;
Verse 42. 42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;
Verse 43. 43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.
Follow the Context
- Turns the prayer toward a foreigner who comes from far away because of God's name
- Asks God to hear the foreigner so all peoples may know and revere the divine name
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Kings 8:41 does not permit the wording “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not make national success a covenant entitlement, blame sufferers for disaster, erase the foreigner or captive, or turn prayer toward the temple into control of God.
What Remains True
Public power and worship remain accountable to truth, covenant faithfulness, affected people, and consequences rather than title, success, wealth, or majority support. This unit tests that truth through turns the prayer toward a foreigner who comes from far away because of God's name; asks God to hear the foreigner so all peoples may know and revere the divine name. In 1 Kings 8:41, the concrete line “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country….” Use authority to increase truthful access, protect people with less power, preserve dissent, and repair concrete harm instead of defending reputation, control, or religious prestige. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Turns the prayer toward a foreigner who comes from far away because of God's name; asks God to hear the foreigner so all peoples may know and revere the divine name.
Teach It Back
In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 8:41's role in 8:41–43. Paraphrase “Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context 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 8:41–43 — Prayer for the foreigner who seeks GodSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
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 8:41–43, 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 8:41–43
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 599–602, translation and translator notes for 8:41–43
Open source ↗