2 Chronicles 7:13-22
Bible verses · Also called: 2 Chronicles 7:13-22, 2 Chr 7:13-22, II Chronicles 7:13-22
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13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments;
18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.
19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house?
22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
In this passage, after Solomon dedicates the Temple, God appears to him by night and speaks of answered prayer, the conditions of obedience, and the consequences of apostasy. Verse 14 in particular, with its promise of repentance and that God will "heal their land," is frequently cited in prayer for the nation.
Context
In 2 Chronicles 6, Solomon dedicates the Temple in Jerusalem with a lengthy prayer. Beginning at 7:12, God answers that prayer, and this passage forms the main body of His answer. The drought, locusts, and pestilence named in verse 13 directly echo the calamities about which Solomon prayed in 2 Chronicles 6:26-31. Verse 14 is the center of the answer. It declares that if God's people "shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways," God will forgive their sin and "will heal their land."
Verses 17-22 speak of the future of the Davidic dynasty and the Temple in conditional terms. If the people obey, God will establish the throne; if they serve other gods, He will pluck them up out of the land and cast off the Temple. This section is nearly identical to 1 Kings 9:1-9. Verses 13-15, however, do not appear in Kings and are found only in 2 Chronicles.
Interpretation
- Historical and contextual reading: The promise was given to ancient Israel, which lived under the Temple and the Davidic covenant. Scholars regard the principle that repentance leads directly to restoration as a summary of the theology of Chronicles as a whole. Indeed, the terms "humble," "pray," "seek," and "turn" recur in the later accounts of Rehoboam (chapter 12) and Manasseh (chapter 33).
- Analogical application: Many preachers apply "my people, which are called by my name" to the church today. In this reading, the church's repentance and prayer are understood as conditions for the restoration of community and society.
- Christocentric reading: This reading holds that the promises concerning the Temple and the Davidic dynasty are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It emphasizes that the place of God's presence has shifted from a building to Christ and the church.
Debates and Issues
The first issue is whether "people" and "land" can be applied directly to modern nations. Dispensationalism, which distinguishes between Israel and the church, tends to read the promise as given to Israel. Covenant theology affirms the continuity of the covenant while applying the land promise spiritually to the church. Critics from both positions argue that citing the verse in a way that identifies a particular nation with the people of God takes it out of context.
The second issue concerns interpreting calamity as the direct result of sin. On the basis of the Book of Job and John 9:1-3, voices in a number of denominations caution against concluding that a particular disaster is the result of a particular group's sin.
Third, there is ongoing discussion of how the promise regarding prayer offered in "this place" (the Temple) in verses 15-16 relates to the New Testament understanding of worship.
In the Korean Church
Verse 14 is known as a passage frequently cited at prayer meetings for the nation, joint prayer gatherings, and special dawn prayer meetings. During epidemics, it has also been used, together with the "pestilence" of verse 13, as a text calling for repentance.
Related Passages
- 2 Chronicles 6:26-31
- 1 Kings 9:1-9
- 2 Samuel 7:12-16
- John 9:1-3
- John 4:20-23
See also 8
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