What Does 1 Kings 8:35 Mean in the King James?
When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
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 confession names God’s nature, and the turn from the missing is shaped by the One they address.
THE MEANING
When life feels closed, the verse names the condition and the rupture together: there is no rain, and the missing is not hidden. The prayer faces the place, acknowledges God’s nature, and turns away from the miss. Affliction remains part of the sentence; the verse holds distress and a return toward God together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that relief is only a matter of waiting for conditions to change: the verse also names a rupture and a turn away from it.
THE ROOT
וְהוֹדוּ
vehodu
GROWS FROM
ידה
acknowledge, praise, give thanks
The verb translated “confess” comes from ידה (yadah: acknowledge, praise, give thanks), so the act reaches beyond admitting a fault. Paired with שֵׁם (shem: name as nature), it makes their prayer an acknowledgment of God’s character, not only a request for rain.
ALSO GROWS
todah: thanksgiving, praise, acknowledgment
תּוֹדָה
This noun from the same root shows confession and thanksgiving sharing the language of recognition.
Yehudah: Judah; a name linked to praise and thanksgiving
יְהוּדָה
Leah connects this name with praise in Genesis 29:35, showing how the root can carry acknowledgment into a name.
יָשׁוּבוּן
yashuvun
GROWS FROM
שוב
turn, return
The root שׁוּב (shuv: turn, return) casts the response as a return from the miss. Beside the confession of God’s nature, the verse presents repair as reorientation toward the One addressed.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun names the return as a movement, echoing the verse’s turn away from the miss.
meshubah: turning away, backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch names a departure from the direction of return, clarifying what the verse’s turn leaves behind.
חָטְאוּ
chat'u
GROWS FROM
חטא
miss, fail to reach the mark
“sinned” in this verse is chat'u. The root חטא (chata: miss) makes the rupture concrete as a failure to reach the mark. Beside שׁוּב (shuv: turn, return), the verse describes a miss that can be turned away from.
ALSO GROWS
chet: missing, offense
חֵטְא
This noun preserves the root’s sense of a miss rather than flattening it into a general label.
chatta't: missing, offense; also an offering for the missing
חַטָּאת
The offering sense keeps the root’s image of a miss present in the language of response.
THE PATTERN
When a condition exposes a miss, the path of repair passes through turning back toward God.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;THE THREAD
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.The word “return” is שׁוּב (shuv: turn, return), the same Hebrew root behind “turn” in this verse. Hosea names the fall plainly and answers it with a return toward God.
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