2 Chronicles 7:12-16

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  7:15 Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹¹  7:16 Now I have chosen and consecrated this temple by making it my permanent home; ¹²  I will be constantly present there. ¹³ 

[7:12]  ¹ tn Heb “I have heard.”

[7:12]  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.

[7:13]  ³ tn Or “if.”

[7:13]  ⁴ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[7:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the land,” which stands here by metonymy for the vegetation growing in it.

[7:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “over whom my name is called.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “seek my face,” where “my face” is figurative for God’s presence and acceptance.

[7:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and turn from their sinful ways.”

[7:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “hear.”

[7:14]  ⁹ sn Here the phrase heal their land means restore the damage done by the drought, locusts and plague mentioned in v. 13.

[7:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place.” Note Solomon’s request in 6:40.

[7:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “for my name to be there perpetually [or perhaps, “forever”].”

[7:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.”