This verse is connected to the preceding verse by indicating the desired result of Solomon’s prayers. It may be necessary in some languages to begin a new sentence here by repeating the crucial element from the context; for example, “I pray that…” or “It is my desire that….”

Thy eyes may be open means “may you pay attention to,” and in this specific context it means “may you keep watch over.” This expression is also in verse 52.

The Hebrew says night and day, as Revised Standard Version shows. A new day began for the Israelite people at sunset. Good News Translation reverses this to read “day and night” for natural English. The order adopted in the receptor language should be the one that is most natural.

The place of which thou hast said, ‘My name shall be there’: Moses had long before said that God would choose one place to be worshiped (Deut 12.11). As indicated earlier in the comments on 1 Kgs 3.2, a person’s name stood for the character of the person. For God’s name to be present in the Temple meant that God himself would be present (see verse 16). Compare Moffatt: “to the place where thou hast promised thy presence.” Note that Moffatt also renders the embedded quotation as indirect discourse. This may be more natural in many languages.

Thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant offers toward this place: Toward this place means “toward the Temple” as Solomon faces it. Some translations say “in this place” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), but the Hebrew preposition here is better translated toward. This last part of this verse may be understood to mean (a) hear me now while I pray in this place, or (b) hear me whenever I pray toward this place at some future time. The second interpretation seems to fit the context better. Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh: “may You heed the prayers which Your servant will offer toward this place.”

Contemporary English Version restructures the whole verse and turns the words of God into an indirect quotation as follows:

• This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .