6:26 “The time will come when 1 the skies 2 are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people 3 sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, 4 and turn away from their sin because you punish 5 them, 6:27 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly 6 you will then teach them the right way to live 7 and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. 8
1 tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 26-27a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Or “heavens” (also in v. 12). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
3 tn Heb “they.”
4 tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”
5 tn The Hebrew text reads “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”). However, this reference to a divine answer is premature, since the next verse asks for God to intervene in mercy. It is better to revocalize the consonantal text as תְעַנֵּם (tÿ’annem, “you afflict them”), a Piel verb form from the homonym עָנָה (“afflict”).
6 tn The present translation understands כִּי (ki) in an emphatic or asseverative sense (“Certainly”). Other translation have “indeed” (NASB), “when” (NRSV), “so” (NEB), or leave the word untranslated (NIV).
7 tn Heb “the good way in which they should walk.”
8 tn Or “for an inheritance.”