1 Kings 8:38-39

8:38 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ¹  as they acknowledge their pain ²  and spread out their hands toward this temple, 8:39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, ³  and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. ⁴  (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) ⁵ 

1 Kings 8:42

8:42 When they hear about your great reputation ⁶  and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, ⁷  they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.

1 Kings 8:48

8:48 When they return to you with all their heart and being ⁸  in the land where they are held prisoner, ⁹  and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, ¹⁰ 

1 Kings 8:2

8:2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival ¹¹  in the month Ethanim ¹²  (the seventh month).

1 Kings 6:38

6:38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul ¹³  (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 5:7

5:7 But as for me, ¹⁵  because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house; ¹⁶ 

I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you. ¹⁷ 

Daniel 6:10

6:10 When Daniel realized ¹⁸  that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows ¹⁹  in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. ²⁰  Three ²¹  times daily he was ²²  kneeling ²³  and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.

¹ tn Heb “every prayer, every request for help which will be to all the people, to all your people Israel.”

² tn Heb “which they know, each the pain of his heart.”

³ tn The words “their sin” are added for clarification.

⁴ tn Heb “and act and give to each one according to all his ways because you know his heart.” In the Hebrew text vv. 37-39a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided up for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “Indeed you know, you alone, the heart of all the sons of mankind.”

⁶ tn Heb “your great name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in the previous verse.

⁷ tn Heb “and your strong hand and your outstretched arm.”

⁸ tn Or “soul.”

⁹ tn Heb “in the land of their enemies.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “your name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in v. 41.

¹¹ sn The festival. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.

¹² sn The month Ethanim. This would be September-October in modern reckoning.

¹³ sn In the month Bul. This would be October-November 959 b.c. in modern reckoning.

¹⁴ tn Heb “he built it in seven years.”

¹⁵ sn But as for me. By placing the first person pronoun at the beginning of the verse, the psalmist highlights the contrast between the evildoers’ actions and destiny, outlined in the preceding verses, with his own.

¹⁶ sn I will enter your house. The psalmist is confident that God will accept him into his presence, in contrast to the evildoers (see v. 5).

¹⁷ tn Heb “in fear [of] you.” The Hebrew noun יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fear”), when used of fearing God, is sometimes used metonymically for what it ideally produces: “worship, reverence, piety.”

¹⁸ tn Aram “knew.”

¹⁹ sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.

²⁰ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²¹ sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.

²² tc Read with several medieval Hebrew MSS and printed editions הֲוָה (havah) rather than the MT הוּא (hu’).

²³ tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).