What Does 1 Kings 8:30 Mean in the King James?
And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The prayer repeats “hear” three times before its final word, release: it asks to be met not only with attention, but with forgiveness.
THE MEANING
Your prayer can face a place while the hearing you seek comes from heaven, beyond the place itself. The verse holds being heard and being released together: its final movement is forgiveness.
THE ROOT
וְסָלָחְתָּ
ve-salachta
GROWS FROM
סלח
salach
To pardon; to release from guilt.
“forgive” in this verse is ve-salachta. The request ends with pardon and release, not with hearing that leaves everything held in place. Forgiveness is the response the prayer asks to follow being heard; the English word can hide this movement of letting go.
ALSO GROWS
sallaḥ: forgiving
סַלָּח
This adjective describes the hearer in Psalm 86:5, tying pardon to a nature as well as to an act.
seliḥot: pardons; acts of forgiveness
סְלִיחוֹת
This noun form makes pardon an identifiable act, echoing the prayer’s final request.
תְּחִנַּת
techinnat
GROWS FROM
חנן
chanan
To show favor; to be gracious.
The word translated “supplication” grows from the root for showing favor. The petition’s own language carries the shape of asking for gracious regard.
ALSO GROWS
chen: favor
חֵן
This noun names what a supplication rooted in chanan seeks.
ḥannun: gracious; one who shows favor
חַנּוּן
This describes the disposition invoked by the plea.
וְשָׁמַעְתָּ
ve-shamata
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
To hear; to listen.
“hearken / hear” in this verse is ve-shamata. English renders this root as “hearken,” “hear,” and “hearest,” but Hebrew repeats it three times: hear the prayer, hear from heaven, hear and forgive. That repetition makes the verse a single chain of hearing that leads to release.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This imperative from the same root shows how hearing can carry attentive response.
shemuah: report; tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names something heard and conveyed, keeping hearing connected to what arrives as a message.
THE PATTERN
Prayer reaches its completion when hearing opens into release.
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.THE THREAD
And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.This prayer directly asks, “pardon our iniquity and our sin,” using סלח (salach, pardon/release), the same root as 1 Kings 8:30’s closing “forgive.” It makes the connection vivid: the request for hearing is shaped as a plea for release.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us