1 Kings 8:44
New International Version
“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,

New Living Translation
“If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the LORD by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name,

English Standard Version
“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,

Berean Standard Bible
When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

King James Bible
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:

New King James Version
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name,

New American Standard Bible
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

NASB 1995
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

NASB 1977
“When Thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which Thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for Thy name,

Legacy Standard Bible
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

Amplified Bible
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your Name and Presence,

Christian Standard Bible
When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When Your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever You send them, and they pray to Yahweh in the direction of the city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your name,

American Standard Version
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Jehovah toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And when your people will come forth to battle against their enemies, on the way that you send them out, and they will pray before you, LORD JEHOVAH, on the street of the city that you have desired and this house that I have built for your name

Brenton Septuagint Translation
If it be that thy people shall go forth to war against their enemies in the way by which thou shalt turn them, and pray in the name of the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name,

Contemporary English Version
Our LORD, sometimes you will order your people to attack their enemies. Then your people will turn toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, and they will pray to you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by what way soever thou shalt send them, they shall pray to thee towards the way of the city, which thou hast chosen, and towards the house, which I have built to thy name:

English Revised Version
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"When your people go to war against their enemies (wherever you may send them) and they pray to you, O LORD, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I built for your name,

Good News Translation
"When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you,

International Standard Version
"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name,

JPS Tanakh 1917
If Thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto the LORD toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name;

Literal Standard Version
When Your people go out to battle against its enemy, in the way that You send them, and they have prayed to YHWH [in] the way of the city which you have fixed on, and of the house which I have built for Your Name,

Majority Standard Bible
When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

New American Bible
“When your people go out to war against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,

NET Bible
"When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to the LORD toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor,

New Revised Standard Version
“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,

New Heart English Bible
"If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;

Webster's Bible Translation
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray to the LORD towards the city which thou hast chosen, and towards the house that I have built for thy name:

World English Bible
“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name,

Young's Literal Translation
'When Thy people doth go out to battle against its enemy, in the way that Thou dost send them, and they have prayed unto Jehovah the way of the city which thou hast fixed on, and of the house which I have builded for Thy name;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Solomon's Prayer of Dedication
43then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. 44When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, 45then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.…

Cross References
1 Kings 8:45
then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

2 Chronicles 14:11
Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: "O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You."

Daniel 6:10
Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.


Treasury of Scripture

If your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you shall send them, and shall pray to the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name:

go out to battle

Deuteronomy 20:1-4
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt…

Deuteronomy 31:3-6
The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said…

Joshua 1:2-5
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel…

whithersoever

Numbers 31:1
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Joshua 6:2-5
And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour…

Joshua 8:1,2
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: …

shall pray

2 Chronicles 14:9-12
And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah…

2 Chronicles 18:31
And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.

2 Chronicles 20:6-13
And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? …

1 Kings 8:16
Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

Psalm 78:67-69
Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: …

Psalm 132:13,14
For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation…

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Battle Built Chosen City Enemies Enemy Faces House Prayer Temple Towards Turning War Way Whatever Whatsoever Wherever Whithersoever
1 Kings 8
1. The feast of the temple
12. Solomon's blessing
22. Solomon's prayer
54. Solomon's blessing
62. His sacrifice of peace offerings














(44-50) If thy people goout.--The prayer here returns once more to invoke God's aid against earthly enemies. It is characteristic of the foreboding tone of sadness, which runs through the whole prayer, that it touches but lightly on the first petition, for God's blessing on the arms of Israel, so often granted in days gone by, and enlarges on the second petition, for mercy and deliverance in the event of defeat and captivity. The spirit, and in the confession of 1Kings 8:47 the very words, of this prayer of Solomon are strikingly reproduced in the solemn supplication of Daniel, when the close of the Babylonish captivity drew near (Daniel 9:4-15).There we find a confession of sin, perverseness, and wickedness, literally the same; we find also a similar pleading with God, as "keeping covenant and mercy," a similar reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and a similar emphasis on the consecration of the city and its people by God's "great name." There is a striking pathos of circumstance in the fact, that over "the sanctuary that was desolate" (Daniel 9:17), with "his windows open towards Jerusalem," Daniel utters the same prayer, which had marked the day of its consecration in all magnificence and prosperity.

Verse 44. - If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever [Heb. in the way which] thou shalt send them [These words clearly imply that the war, whether defensive or offensive (i.e., for the chastisement of other nations), is one which had God's sanction, and indeed was waged by His appointment], and shall pray unto the Lord toward [Heb. in the way of. Same expression as above. The repetition is significant. "They have gone in God's way. They may therefore look the way of God's house for help." Executing God's commission, they might justly expect His blessing] the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

Your people
עַמְּךָ֤ (‘am·mə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

go
יֵצֵ֨א (yê·ṣê)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

to war
לַמִּלְחָמָה֙ (lam·mil·ḥā·māh)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4421: A battle, war

against
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

their enemies,
אֹ֣יְב֔וֹ (’ō·yə·ḇōw)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 341: Hating, an adversary

wherever
בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ (bad·de·reḵ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

You send them,
תִּשְׁלָחֵ֑ם (tiš·lā·ḥêm)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

and when they pray
וְהִתְפַּֽלְל֣וּ (wə·hiṯ·pal·lū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6419: To judge, to intercede, pray

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the LORD
יְהוָ֗ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

in the direction
דֶּ֤רֶךְ (de·reḵ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

of the city
הָעִיר֙ (hā·‘îr)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement

You have chosen
בָּחַ֣רְתָּ (bā·ḥar·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 977: To try, select

and the house
וְהַבַּ֖יִת (wə·hab·ba·yiṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1004: A house

I have built
בָּנִ֥תִי (bā·ni·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1129: To build

for Your Name,
לִשְׁמֶֽךָ׃ (liš·me·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 8034: A name


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OT History: 1 Kings 8:44 If your people go out to battle (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 8:43
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