1 Kings 8:40

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הָאֲדָמָ֑ה

ʼădâmâh

H127

“the · ground”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 225× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:25

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H119

TWOT: 25b

ground, land - ground (as general, tilled, yielding sustenance) - piece of ground, a specific plot of land - earth substance (for building or constructing) - ground as earth's visible surface - land, territory, country - whole inhabited earth - city in Naphtali

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
12: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
5 nouns
1 adjective
1 pronoun
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

יִֽרָא֔וּךָ Qal · Imperfect
נָתַ֖תָּה Qal · Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֲשֶׁר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 13 Hebrew tokens and 17 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Kings 8:40 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 130:4 But there is forgiveness with you, Therefore you are feared.
Revelation 19:5 A voice came forth from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!"
Genesis 22:12 He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won't sin."
Deuteronomy 6:2 that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
Deuteronomy 6:13 You shall fear Yahweh your God; and him shall you serve, and shall swear by his name.
1 Samuel 12:24 Only fear Yahweh, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he has done for you.
Psalms 115:13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh, Both small and great.

Jeremiah 32:39–40 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
Acts 10:2 a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.
Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can't be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,
Revelation 15:4 Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, And glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed."
Acts 9:31 So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Kings 8:40 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לְמַ֨עַן֙ יִֽרָא֔וּךָ כָּל הַ֨יָּמִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר הֵ֥ם חַיִּ֖ים עַל פְּנֵ֣י הָאֲדָמָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תָּה לַאֲבֹתֵֽינוּ

that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 8:40 Septuagint · lemma form

ὅπως φοβέω σύ πᾶς ὁ ἡμέρα ὅς αὐτός ζάω ἐπί ὁ γῆ ὅς δίδωμι ὁ πατήρ ἐγώ

that they may fear you all the days that they live upon the land, which you have given to our fathers.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

בְּדִיל דְיִדְחֲלוּן מִן קֳדָמָךְ כָּל יוֹמַיָא דְאִינוּן קַיָמִין עַל אַפֵּי אַרְעָא דִי יְהַבְתְּ לְאַבְהָתָנָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Kings 8:40 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Ki 8:40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

Ver. 40. That they may fear thee.] For thy just judgments on hypocrites, and mercies to the sincere. {Psa 130:4 Hos 3:5}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

40. that they may fear thee] i.e. Being instructed and warned by God’s judgements may cease to offend and in consequence need no more correction. Cf. Psa_130:4. ‘There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

That they may fear thee,.... For his goodness sake in hearing their prayer, removing their affliction, and bestowing his blessings on them, particularly in forgiving their sins, see Psa 130:4.

all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers; not only for the present, while the mercy is fresh, but all the days of their lives; to which they were the more obliged by the good land they possessed as a divine gift, and which they held by the tenure of their obedience, Isa 1:19.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

That they may fear thee; that when thou hast first smitten them, and then so eminently delivered them, and that in answer to their prayer, they may hereby be taught to fear thee, and thy justice, and thy goodness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. Solomon anticipates that a godly fear will be the result of forgiveness and restoration. We find the same thought in Psa_130:4. The mercy and goodness of God should lead to repentance, but unhappily it not unseldom fails to do so.

The fifth petition contemplates the prayers which foreigners, attracted by the fame of Jerusalem, of its religion and sanctuary could offer towards the house. The Gentiles who should visit Jerusalem would assuredly, with their polytheistic ideas and their belief in local or tribal deities, invoke the aid and blessing of the mighty God of Jacob. This mention of aliens from the commonwealth of Israel in the prayer of dedication, especially when viewed in the light of the exclusiveness and bigotry which characterized the Jews of later days, is especially to be noticed. As Rawlinson (in loco) observes, "Nothing is more remarkable in the Mosaic law than its liberality with regard to strangers." He then quotes Exo_22:21; Leviticus Deu_10:19 Deu_31:12 Num_15:14-16; and adds: "It is quite in the spirit of these enactments that Solomon, having first prayed God on behalf of his fellow countrymen, should next go on to intercede for the strangers," etc. The intercourse of the Hebrews at this period with foreign nations, and the influence they exercised on the Jewish thought and manners (see Stanley, "Jewish Ch." 2. Leer. 26.), are also to be remembered. These new relations with the stranger would no doubt have widened Solomon"s views.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

fear

(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 13 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼădâmâh (“ground”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “ground” (ʼădâmâh) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Psalms 130:4, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “which” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«יִֽרָא֔וּךָ» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 13 Hebrew ↔ 17 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“which” occurs 2× in this single verse.
12 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 13 words in this verse.