1 Kings 8:37

Verse

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

American Standard Version (1901)

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

Bible in Basic English

If there is no food in the land, or if there is disease, or if the fruits of the earth are damaged through heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers; whatever trouble, whatever disease there may be:

Free Bible Version

If there is famine in the land, or disease, or blight or mildew on the crops, or if there are locusts or caterpillars, or if an enemy comes to lay siege to the towns in the land—it can be whatever kind of plague or whatever kind of disease—

Geneva Bible 1599

When there shalbe famine in the land, when there shalbe pestilence, when there shall be blasting, mildewe, grashopper or caterpiller, when their enemie shall besiege them in the cities of their lande, or any plague, or any sickenesse,

King James (Authorized) Version

¶ If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

Translation for Translators

And when the people of this land experience famines, or if there is a plague/illness that causes many people to become sick, or if their crops are destroyed by very hot winds or by mildew or by locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies surround any of their cities in order to attack them, if any of those bad things happen to them,

Unlocked Literal Bible

Suppose there is famine in the land, or suppose that there is disease, blight or mildew, locusts or caterpillars; or suppose that an enemy attacks the city gates in their land, or that there is any plague or sickness—

Noah Webster Bible

If there shall be in the land famine, if there shall be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there shall be caterpillar; if their enemy shall besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there shall be ;

World English Bible

“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,

Young's Literal Translation

'Famine — when it is in the land; pestilence — when it is; blasting, mildew, locust; caterpillar — when it is; when its enemy hath distressed it in the land [in] its gates, any plague, any sickness, —

Context

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

³⁶then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.³⁷When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,³⁸then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

Sermons

Plague, the Terror Word

A.W. Tozer

2.4K

Summary

In this verse, Solomon prays to God, acknowledging that there will be times when the people sin against Him. He asks that when they realize their sin and turn back to God, God would forgive them. Solomon recognizes the human condition of sinfulness and the need for repentance and restoration. This prayer reflects the importance of seeking forgiveness and mercy from God when we stray from His ways, showing the compassionate and forgiving nature of God towards His people.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

If there be in the land famine - pestilence - The Fourth case includes several kinds of evils: 1. Famine; a scarcity or total want of bread, necessarily springing from the preceding cause, drought. 2. Pestilence; any general and contagious disease. 3. Blasting; any thing by which the crops are injured, so that the ear is never matured; but instead of wholesome grain, there is a black offensive dust. 4. Mildew; any thing that vitiates or corrodes the texture of the stalk, destroys the flowers and blossoms, or causes the young shaped fruits to fall off their stems. 5. Locust, a well known curse in the East, a species of grasshopper that multiplies by millions, and covers the face of the earth for many miles square, destroying every green thing; leaving neither herb nor grass upon the earth, nor leaf nor bark upon the trees. 6. Caterpillar; the locust in its young or nympha state. The former refers to locusts brought by winds from other countries and settling on the land; the latter, to the young locusts bred in the land. 7. An enemy, having attacked their defenced cities, the keys and barriers of the land. 8. Any other kind of plague; that which affects the surface of the body; blotch, blain, leprosy, ophthalmia, etc. 9. Sickness; whatever impaired the strength, or affected the intestines, disturbing or destroying their natural functions. All such cases were to be brought before the Lord, the persons having a deep sense of the wickedness which induced God thus to afflict, or permit them to be afflicted: for only those who knew the plague of their own hearts, (Kg1 8:38), the deep-rooted moral corruption of their nature, and the destructive nature and sinfulness of sin, were likely to pray in such a manner as to induce God to hear and forgive.