1 Kings 8:41

The stranger and outcast Witness and mission

³⁹ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

⁴⁰ so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

⁴² for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

⁴³ then 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.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—
KJV: Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;
WEB: “Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake
ASV: Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name`s sake
DARBY: And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake
BLB: And also concerning a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, and he has come from a far country for the sake of Your name—

ÅB: Også om en fremmed, en som ikke er av ditt folk Israel, men kommer fra et fjernt land for ditt navns skyld
OTB: Også angående den fremmede som ikke er av Ditt folk Israel, når han kommer fra et fjernt land for Ditt navns skyld
B1930: Også om en fremmed, en som ikke er av ditt folk Israel, men kommer fra et fjernt land for ditt navns skyld

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

1 Kings 10:1–2
Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.
Read in context
Isaiah 56:3–7
Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.”
Read in context
Acts 8:27–40
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
Read in context
Exodus 18:8–12
Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
Read in context
Acts 10:1–4
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
Read in context
John 12:20
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.
Read in context
Ruth 2:11
Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.
Read in context
Matthew 15:22–28
And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.”
Read in context