---
title: 1 Kings 8:39
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-kings-8-39/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-kings-8-39.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Kings 8:39
testament: OT
section: History
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Kings 8:39

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> 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—

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "then may you hear from the heavens, your dwelling place, and may you forgive and take action; and reward each one according to all his ways, for you know his heart (you alone truly know every human heart),"

## JW Usage

Cited for Jehovah's unique knowledge of human hearts, and used in Watchtower material on his ability to judge fairly and to see motives no human can see. It is not usually connected to any question about Jesus.

## Protestant Usage

Solomon's parenthesis is the sharpest form of the claim: you alone truly know every human heart. Not "you know best" — you alone. That makes heart-knowledge an exclusive divine property, and it sets up a problem for the Watchtower's picture of prayer. Witnesses pray to Jehovah in Jesus' name, understanding Jesus as the channel who conveys the request. But John 14:14 has Jesus say "if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it" — he answers prayer himself. For that to be possible he must receive prayers offered silently, in every language, everywhere on earth, at the same moment. That requires knowing hearts. And Revelation 2:23 has the risen Christ say "I am he who searches the hearts and minds" — the same claim Solomon says belongs to God alone, in the mouth of Jesus. So either Solomon is wrong, or the New Testament has attributed to Jesus a property Scripture reserves for God. Compare John 16:23, John 16:26, 1 Corinthians 2:11.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Until Now You Have Not Asked in My Name](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-16-23-26-prayer-trap.md) — John 16:23-26 — the unitarian collapse on prayer [Deity of Christ]
- ["Nor the Son" — and "You Are Aware of All Things"](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-knowledge-mark-13-32.md) — Mark 13:32 / Revelation 1:1 / Revelation 14:14-16 — what the Son didn't know, and what he did [Deity of Christ]