2 Chronicles 6:5-6

6:5 He told David, ¹  ‘Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. ²  Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel. 6:6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, ³  and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.’

2 Chronicles 6:20

6:20 Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. ⁴  May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. ⁵ 

2 Chronicles 33:4-7

33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” ⁶  33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire ⁷  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ⁸  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ⁹  33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ¹⁰ 

2 Chronicles 33:1

Manasseh’s Reign

33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ¹¹ 

2 Chronicles 8:1

Building Projects and Commercial Efforts

8:1 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and his royal palace,

2 Chronicles 9:3

9:3 When the queen of Sheba saw for herself Solomon’s extensive wisdom, ¹²  the palace ¹³  he had built,

2 Chronicles 9:2

9:2 Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king. ¹⁴ 

2 Chronicles 21:4

21:4 Jehoram took control of his father’s kingdom and became powerful. ¹⁵  Then he killed all his brothers, ¹⁶  as well as some of the officials of Israel.

2 Chronicles 21:7-8

21:7 But the Lord was unwilling to destroy David’s dynasty ¹⁷  because of the promise ¹⁸  he had made to give David a perpetual dynasty. ¹⁹ 

21:8 During Jehoram’s ²⁰  reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king. ²¹ 

¹ tn Heb “saying.”

² tn Heb “to build a house for my name to be there.” Here “name” is used by metonymy for the Lord himself, and thus the expression “to be there” refers to his taking up residence there (hence the translation, “a temple in which to live”). In this case the temple is referred to as a “house” where the Lord himself can reside.

³ tn Heb for my name to be there.” See also the note on the word “live” in v. 5.

⁴ tn Heb “so your eyes might be open toward this house night and day, toward the place about which you said, ‘My name will be there.’”

⁵ tn Heb “by listening to the prayer which your servant is praying concerning this place.”

⁶ tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”

⁷ tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

⁸ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

⁹ tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹² tn Heb “all the wisdom of Solomon.”

¹³ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Solomon declared to her all her words; there was not a word hidden from the king which he did not declare to her.” If riddles are specifically in view (see v. 1), then one might translate, “Solomon explained to her all her riddles; there was no riddle too complex for the king.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and Jehoram arose over the kingdom of his father and strengthened himself.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “and he killed all his brothers with the sword.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁸ tn Or “covenant.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “which he made to David, just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” Here “lamp” is metaphorical, symbolizing the Davidic dynasty.

²⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoram) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

²¹ tn Heb “in his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and enthroned a king over them.”