2 Chronicles

and he said: “O YHWH, God of Israel, [there is] not a god like You in the heavens or on the earth, who keeps the covenant of loving devotion with Your servants walking before You with all their heart,

who has kept for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him. You have spoken with Your mouth and with Your hand you have fulfilled [it], as this day.

And now, O YHWH, God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man before Me, to sit on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law, as you have walked before My face.’

And, O YHWH, God of Israel, confirm Your word that You have spoken to Your servant David.

But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house that I have built!

And You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O YHWH my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You.

For may Your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where You have said to put Your name, that You may listen to the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

And may You listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place, and may You hear from Your dwelling place, the heavens, and may You hear and forgive.

If anyone sins against his neighbor, and it is lifted up upon him to take an oath to swear, and he comes in to swear before Your altar in this house,

then may You hear from the heavens and act and judge Your servants, to give back to the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and to justify the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.

And if Your people Israel are struck before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return and confess Your name, and they pray and make supplication before You in this house,

then may You hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that You gave to them and to their fathers.

When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and from their sin they turn back because You afflict them,

then may You hear [in] the heavens and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, that You may direct them toward the good way that they should walk in it, and give rain on Your land that You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

Famine, when it is in the land, or there is pestilence, blight or mildew, locust or grasshoppers, when it is that their enemies besiege them in their land—its gates—any plague and any sickness,

any prayer, any supplication that is by any man, or by all Your people Israel, when they know, each one, his own burden and his own grief, and he spreads out his hands to this house,

then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, and forgive, and give to each man according to all his ways (since You know his heart, for You alone know the heart of the sons of men),

that they may fear You to walk in Your ways all the days that they live on the face of the ground that You have given to our fathers.

And also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, and he comes from a distant country for the sake of Your great name, and Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm, and they come and pray in this house,

then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, that they may know that Your name is called upon this house that I have built.

When Your people go out to battle against their enemies in the way that You send them, and they pray to You toward this city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name,

then may You hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and may You maintain their cause.

When they sin against You—for [there is] no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors take them captive to a land distant or near,

and they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive there, and they turn and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness,’

and they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have been carried captive, and they pray toward their land that You gave to their fathers, and the city that You have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for Your name,

then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and may You maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

Now, my God, please, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer in this place.

And now arise, O YHWH God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O YHWH God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your holy ones rejoice in the goodness.

O YHWH God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed. Remember the loving devotion to David Your servant.”

and My people upon whom My name is called will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from the heavens and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

And Asa cried out to YHWH his God and said, “O YHWH, [it is] nothing for You to help, whether with many or with no power. Help us, O YHWH our God, for on You we rest, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O YHWH, You [are] our God; do not let man prevail against You.”

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because of your leaning on the king of Aram and not leaning on YHWH your God, upon thus the force of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

Was [it] not [that] the Cushites and the Libyans were as an army of multitudes, of very many chariots and horsemen? And in your leaning on YHWH, He delivered them into your hand.

For YHWH—His eyes go to and fro in all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart [is] perfect to Him. You have acted foolishly regarding this; therefore from now on there will be wars with you.”

And Asa was angry with the seer, and he put him in the house of the stocks, for [he was] in a rage at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me [against] Ramoth-gilead?” And he answered him, “I [am] as you [are], and as your people [are] my people, and with you in the war.”

And Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and he said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should [you be] giving help to the wicked, and those hating YHWH would you love? And for this, wrath [is] upon you from before the face of YHWH.

And he commanded them, saying, “Thus you⁺ shall do in the fear of YHWH, in faithfulness, and with a perfect heart.

and he said, “O YHWH, God of our fathers, are You not He, the God in the heavens? And You are ruling over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand [are] power and might, and there is no one to stand against You.

And behold, they are recompensing to us by coming to throw us out of Your possession, which You have given us to inherit.

and they stood up against Uzziah the king and said to him, “[It is] not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to YHWH, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed; and honor [is] not unto you from YHWH God.”

For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May YHWH, who [is] good, provide atonement on the behalf

everyone [who] prepares his heart to seek God—YHWH, God of his fathers—and not according to the purifying of the sanctuary.”

And the sons of Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept the Feast of the Unleavened seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests were praising YHWH day by day, accompanied by loud instruments to YHWH.

And Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who gave good understanding of YHWH. And they ate the appointed thing seven days, sacrificing sacrifices of peace offerings and confessing to YHWH, God of their fathers.

And all the assembly counseled to keep [it] another seven days, and they kept it seven days [with] joy.

And all the assembly of Judah rejoiced, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the assembly that came from Israel, and the sojourners who came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah.

And there was great joy in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel nothing like this [was] in Jerusalem.

And Hezekiah did not repay according to the deed to him, for his heart was lifted up; and there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

And Hezekiah humbled himself for the loftiness of his heart, he and those dwelling in Jerusalem, so that the wrath of YHWH did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

And so with the ambassadors of the heads of Babylon, those sending to him to inquire about the sign that was [done] in the land, God withdrew from him in order to test him, that He might know all in his heart.

And Shaphan the scribe declared to the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given a book to me.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

And it came to pass, in the king hearing the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

“Go, inquire of YHWH for me and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great [is] the wrath of YHWH that is poured out on us, upon that our fathers have kept not the word of YHWH, to do according to all written in this book.”

And as for the king of Judah who sent you⁺ to inquire of YHWH in this manner, you⁺ shall say to him, thus says YHWH, God of Israel: ‘The words that you have heard,

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its dwellers, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes, and you wept before Me, I also have heard’—the declaration of YHWH.

‘Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place and its dwellers.’” And to the king they brought back word.