2 Chronicles 7:13

7:13 When ¹  I close up the sky ²  so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, ³  or send a plague among my people,

2 Chronicles 6:26-27

6:26 “The time will come when ⁴  the skies ⁵  are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people ⁶  sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, ⁷  and turn away from their sin because you punish ⁸  them, 6:27 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly ⁹  you will then teach them the right way to live ¹⁰  and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. ¹¹ 

[7:13]  ¹ tn Or “if.”

[7:13]  ² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[7:13]  ³ tn Heb “the land,” which stands here by metonymy for the vegetation growing in it.

[6:26]  ⁴ 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.

[6:26]  ⁵ tn Or “heavens” (also in v. 12). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[6:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “they.”

[6:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[6:26]  ⁸ 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”).

[6:27]  ⁷ 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).

[6:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “the good way in which they should walk.”

[6:27]  ⁹ tn Or “for an inheritance.”