2 Chronicles 6

2 Chronicles 6:1 Then Solomon said: Yahveh said he would dwell in total darkness,

2 Chronicles 6:2 but I have built an exalted temple for you, a place for your permanent residence.

2 Chronicles 6:3 Then the king turned and endorsed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing.

2 Chronicles 6:4 He said: Praised be Yahveh God of Israel! He spoke directly to my father, David, and he has fulfilled the promise through his power. He said,

2 Chronicles 6:5 “Since the day I brought my people Israel out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen[1] a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that my name would be there, and I have not chosen a man to be ruler over my people, Israel.

2 Chronicles 6:6 But I have chosen Jerusalem so that my name will be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”

2 Chronicles 6:7 My father, David, had his heart set on building a temple for the name of Yahveh, the God of Israel.

2 Chronicles 6:8 However, Yahveh said to my father David, “Since you desired to build a temple for my name, you have done well to have this desire.

2 Chronicles 6:9 Yet, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your offspring, will make the temple for my name.”

2 Chronicles 6:10 So Yahveh has fulfilled what he promised. I have taken the place of my father, David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahveh promised. I have built the temple for the name of Yahveh, the God of Israel.

2 Chronicles 6:11 I have placed[2] the ark there, where Yahveh’s covenant is that he established with the Israelites.

2 Chronicles 6:12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahveh in the face of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands.

2 Chronicles 6:13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt on his knees in the face of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward the sky.

2 Chronicles 6:14 He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in the sky or on the land, who guards his covenant and covenant faithfulness with your slaves who walk before you with all their heart.[3]

2 Chronicles 6:15 You have guarded what you promised to your slave, my father, David. You spoke directly to him, and you fulfilled your promise by your power, as it is today.

2 Chronicles 6:16 Therefore, Yahveh God of Israel, guard what you promised to your slave, my father David: “You will never  have a man cut off before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their way to walk in my instruction[4] as you have walked before me.”

2 Chronicles 6:17 Now, Yahveh God of Israel, please confirm what you promised to your slave David.

2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God indeed live on the land with humans? Notice, even the sky, the sky of skies, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built.

2 Chronicles 6:19 Listen to your slave’s prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your slave prays before you,

2 Chronicles 6:20 so that your eyes watch over this temple day and night, toward the place where you said you would place your name; and so that you may hear the prayer your slave prays toward this place.

2 Chronicles 6:21 Hear the petitions of your slave and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in the sky. May you hear and forgive.

2 Chronicles 6:22 When a man who fails[5] his neighbor is forced to take an oath[6] and comes to take an oath before your altar in this temple,

2 Chronicles 6:23 may you hear in the sky and act. May you judge your slaves, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

2 Chronicles 6:24 When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have failed you, and they return to you and praise your name, and they pray and plead for favor before you in this temple,

2 Chronicles 6:25 may you hear in the sky and forgive the sin of your people Israel. May you restore them to the land you gave them and their ancestors.

2 Chronicles 6:26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have failed you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their failures because you are afflicting them,

2 Chronicles 6:27 may you hear in the sky and forgive the sin of your slaves and your people Israel, so that you may teach them the good way they should walk in. May you send rain on your land that you gave your people for an inheritance.

2 Chronicles 6:28 When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, when there is blight or mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemies besiege them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness,

2 Chronicles 6:29 every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have- they each know their own affliction and suffering- as they spread out their hands toward this temple,

2 Chronicles 6:30 may you hear in the sky, your dwelling place, and may you forgive and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, for you alone know the human heart,

2 Chronicles 6:31 so that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days they are living[7] on the land you gave our ancestors.

2 Chronicles 6:32 Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your strong hand and outstretched arm: when he comes and prays toward this temple,

2 Chronicles 6:33 may you hear in the sky in your dwelling place and do all the foreigner asks you. Then all the people of the land will know your name, to fear you as your people Israel do, and understand that this temple I have built bears your name.

2 Chronicles 6:34 When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city you have chosen and the temple that I have built for your name,

2 Chronicles 6:35 may you hear their prayer and petition in the sky and bring them justice.

2 Chronicles 6:36 When they fail you, for there is no one who does not fail- and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to a distant or nearby country,

2 Chronicles 6:37 and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and seek your favor in their captors’ land, saying: “We have failed and done wrong; we have been wicked,”

2 Chronicles 6:38 and when they return to you with all their heart and all their throat in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and when they pray in the direction of their land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name,

2 Chronicles 6:39 may you hear their prayer and petitions in the sky, your dwelling place, and bring them justice. May you forgive your people who failed you.

2 Chronicles 6:40 Now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

2 Chronicles 6:41 Now therefore: Arise, Yahveh God, come to your resting place, you and your mighty ark. May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and may your faithful people enjoy[8] goodness.

2 Chronicles 6:42 Yahveh God, do not reject your anointed one; remember the covenant faithfulness to your slave David.

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[1] בָּחַר = choose, try out, test. 2 Chronicles 6:5, 6, 34, 38; 7:12, 16; 11:1; 12:13; 13:3, 17; 29:11; 33:7. 2 Chronicles 2:12; 6:3, 4, 13; 9:8; 20:26; 30:27; 31:8, 10.

[2]  שׂוּם = place, put. 2 Chronicles 6:11, 20; 12:13; 18:26; 23:15, 18; 33:7, 14.

[3] לֵב = heart.  2 Chronicles 6:14, 38; 7:10, 11, 16; 9:23; 12:14; 17:6; 24:4; 25:19; 26:16; 30:12, 22; 32:25, 26.

[4] תּוֹרָה = instruction. 2 Chronicles 6:16; 12:1; 14:4; 15:3; 17:9; 19:10; 23:18; 25:4; 30:16; 31:3, 4, 21; 33:8; 34:14, 15, 19; 35:26.

[5] חָטָא = fail. 2 Chronicles 6:22, 24, 26, 36, 37, 39; 29:24.

[6] אָלָה = oath.  2 Chronicles 6:22; 34:24.

[7] חַי = living. 2 Chronicles 6:31; 10:6; 18:13; 25:12.

[8] שָׂמַח = enjoy, rejoice. Chronicles 6:41; 15:15; 20:27; 23:21; 24:10; 29:36; 30:25.

links:

ACST 52- The Change
real presence – Devotions
staying real

The 2 Chronicles shelf in Jeff’s library