1 Kings 8:47
Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
This verse belongs to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple God employed him to build, recorded in 1 Kings 8:22-61 and described as 1 Kings 8:22-53. The temple was built by many people and was large and grand, and God honored the builders because they built Him a sanctuary where they could meet to worship Him. The prayer shows that Israel's dependence was in the God of Israel, asking Him to give His people undivided hearts toward Him and to hear them when in captivity they recognize their sin and seek forgiveness.
Those carried captive because of their sin can bethink themselves, meaning come to their senses, where they are in the foreign land of their captors. Even in that foreign land the captives can turn back to God through repentance, prayer and supplication, confessing that they have sinned and acted perversely and wickedly. Their captivity does not close the way to approach God. Solomon offered this prayer when he was a just, compassionate and God-fearing ruler expressing his need for divine power, having received remarkable manifestations of divine power as he entered his work and precious views of the divine character.
That light did not save him, for corrupting influences and pagan wives led him to forsake the very temple and the God he had prayed to for idol worship. He built places for that worship and supported idolatry, thereby turning from the faith and loyalty expressed in his prayer. He became a seducer who dishonored himself, Israel and God by leading the people into the apostasy he himself had entered. The verse reflects how the hours appointed for morning and evening sacrifice were regarded as sacred set times for worship, so that when the Jews were later scattered as captives in distant lands they still at the appointed hour turned their faces toward Jerusalem and offered petitions to the God of Israel.
In that custom Christians have an example for morning and evening prayer, bowing morning and evening to seek pardon for sins committed and to present requests for needed blessings, which God looks upon with great pleasure.