2 Chronicles 7:12-14

7:12 the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: “I have answered ¹  your prayer and chosen this place to be my temple where sacrifices are to be made. ²  7:13 When ³  I close up the sky ⁴  so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, ⁵  or send a plague among my people, 7:14 if my people, who belong to me, ⁶  humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, ⁷  and repudiate their sinful practices, ⁸  then I will respond ⁹  from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “I have heard.”

² tn Heb “temple of sacrifice.” This means the Lord designated the temple as the place for making sacrifices, and this has been clarified in the translation.

³ tn Or “if.”

⁴ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁵ tn Heb “the land,” which stands here by metonymy for the vegetation growing in it.

⁶ tn Heb “over whom my name is called.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28.

⁷ tn Heb “seek my face,” where “my face” is figurative for God’s presence and acceptance.

⁸ tn Heb “and turn from their sinful ways.”

⁹ tn Heb “hear.”

¹⁰ sn Here the phrase heal their land means restore the damage done by the drought, locusts and plague mentioned in v. 13.