translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET textual note

text: The Old Greek translation includes the following words at the beginning of ch. : “It so happened that when Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and his own house, after twenty years.”


label: NET translator note

text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “Then Solomon convened the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers belonging to the sons of Israel to King Solomon [in] Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David (it is Zion).”


text: Heb “the tent of assembly.” sn The tent of meeting . See Exod 33:7-11 .


text: Heb “and they carried the ark of the Lord …. The priests and the Levites carried them.”


text: Heb “And King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, those who had been gathered to him, [were] before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle which could not be counted or numbered because of the abundance.”


text: The word “assigned” is supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “they could not be seen outside.”


text: Heb “in Horeb where.”


text: Heb “were not able to stand to serve.”


text: Heb “the house of the Lord .”


text: The words “O Lord ” do not appear in the original text, but they are supplied for clarification; Solomon addresses the Lord in prayer at this point.


text: Heb “turned his face.”


text: Heb “and he blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel was standing.”


text: The Hebrew text reads, “by his hand.”


text: The Hebrew text reads, “by his mouth.”


text: Heb “saying.”


text: Heb “to build a house for my name to be there.” sn To build a temple in which to live ( Heb “to build a house for my name to be there”). In the OT, the word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.


text: Heb “and it was with the heart of David my father.”


text: Heb “to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.” The word “name” in the OT sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.


text: Heb “Because it was with your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was with your heart.”


text: Heb “your son, the one who came out of your body, he will build the temple for my name.”


text: Heb “his word that he spoke.”


text: Heb “name.”


text: Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 34, 40, 48, 53, 57, 58 ).


text: Or “heaven.”


text: Heb “said.”


text: Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.


text: Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”


text: Heb “[you] who kept to your servant David my father that which you spoke to him.”


text: Heb “you spoke by your mouth and by your hand you fulfilled, as this day.”


text: Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from before me sitting on the throne of Israel.”


text: Heb “guard their way by walking before me as you have walked before me.”


text: Heb “the words that you spoke.”


text: Or “prove to be reliable.”


text: Heb “Indeed, can God really live on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which the translation above seeks to reflect.


text: Heb “turn to.”


text: Heb “by listening to.”


text: Heb “the loud cry and the prayer.”


text: Heb “praying before you.”


text: Heb “so your eyes might be open toward this house night and day, toward the place about which you said, ‘My name will be there.’”


text: Heb “by listening to the prayer which your servant is praying concerning this place.”


text: Heb “listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel which they are praying concerning this place.”


text: Heb “and you, hear inside your dwelling place, inside heaven.” The precise nuance of the preposition אֶל (’ el ), used here with the verb “hear,” is unclear. One expects the preposition “from,” which appears in the parallel text in 2 Chr 6:21 . The nuance “inside; among” is attested for אֶל (see Gen 23:19 ; 1 Sam 10:22 ; Jer 4:3 ), but in each case a verb of motion is employed with the preposition, unlike 1 Kgs 8:30 . The translation above (“from inside”) is based on the demands of the immediate context rather than attested usage elsewhere.


text: Heb “hear and forgive.”


text: Heb “and forgive the man who sins against his neighbor when one takes up against him a curse to curse him and the curse comes before your altar in this house.” In the Hebrew text the words “and forgive” conclude v. 30 , but the accusative sign at the beginning of v. 31 suggests the verb actually goes with what follows in v. 31 . The parallel text in 2 Chr 6:22 begins with “and if,” rather than the accusative sign. In this case “forgive” must be taken with what precedes, and v. 31 must be taken as the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, with v. 32 being the apodosis (“then” clause) that completes the sentence. sn Be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false . At first it appears that Solomon is asking God to forgive the guilty party. But in v. 32 Solomon asks the Lord to discern who is guilty and innocent, so v. 31 must refer to a situation where an accusation has been made, but not yet proven. The very periphrastic translation reflects this interpretation.


text: Heb “and you, hear [from] heaven and act and judge your servants by declaring the guilty to be guilty, to give his way on his head, and to declare the innocent to be innocent, to give to him according to his innocence.”


text: Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 33-34 actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.


text: Or “are struck down before an enemy.”


text: Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”


text: Heb “and they pray and ask for help.”


text: Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 35-36 a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The Hebrew text has “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’ anah , “to 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 (“to afflict”).


text: The translation understands כִּי ( ki ) in an emphatic or asseverative sense.


text: Heb “the good way in which they should walk.”


text: Or “for an inheritance.”


text: Actually two Hebrew terms appear here, both of which are usually taken as referring to locusts. Perhaps different stages of growth or different varieties are in view.


text: Heb “in the land, his gates.”


text: Heb “every prayer, every request for help which will be to all the people, to all your people Israel.”


text: Heb “which they know, each the pain of his heart.”


text: The words “their sin” are added for clarification.


text: Heb “and act and give to each one according to all his ways because you know his heart.” In the Hebrew text vv. 37-39 a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided up for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “Indeed you know, you alone, the heart of all the sons of mankind.”


text: Heb “fear.”


text: Heb “all the days [in] which.”


text: Heb “your name.” In the OT the word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.


text: Heb “your great name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in the previous verse.


text: Heb “and your strong hand and your outstretched arm.”


text: Heb “and do all which the foreigner calls to [i.e., “requests of”] you.”


text: Heb “your name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in v. 41 .


text: Heb “that your name is called over this house which I built.” The Hebrew idiom “to call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28 .


text: Heb “When your people go out for battle against their enemies in the way which you send them.”


text: Or perhaps “to you, O Lord .” See 2 Chr 6:34 .


text: Heb “their prayer and their request for help.”


text: Heb “and accomplish their justice.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “the land of the enemy.”


text: Or “stop and reflect”; Heb “bring back to their heart.”


text: Or “done wrong.”


text: Or “soul.”


text: Heb “in the land of their enemies.”


text: Heb “and forgive your people who have sinned against you, [forgive] all their rebellious acts by which they rebelled against you, and grant them mercy before their captors so they will show them mercy.”


text: Or “for.”


text: Heb “inheritance.”


text: The Hebrew term כּוּר ( kur , “furnace,” cf. Akkadian ku„ru ) is a metaphor for the intense heat of purification. A כּוּר was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19). Thus Egypt served not as a place of punishment for the Israelites, but as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty. sn From the middle of the iron-smelting furnace . The metaphor of a furnace suggests fire and heat and is an apt image to remind the people of the suffering they endured while slaves in Egypt.


text: Heb “May your eyes be open.”


text: Heb “to listen to them in all their calling out to you.”


text: Or “For.”


text: Heb “your inheritance.”


text: Or “toward heaven.”


text: Heb “he has given a resting place to his people Israel.”


text: Heb “not one word from his entire good word he spoke by Moses his servant has fallen.”


text: Heb “to bend our hearts toward him.” The infinitive is subordinate to the initial prayer, “may the Lord our God be with us.” The Hebrew term לֵבָב ( levav , “heart”) here refers to the people’s volition and will.


text: Heb “to walk in all his ways.”


text: Heb “keep.”


text: Heb “May these words of mine, which I have requested before the Lord , be near the Lord our God day and night.”


text: Heb “accomplish the justice of.”


text: Heb “so that.”


text: Heb “the Lord , he is the God, there is no other.”


text: Heb “may your hearts be complete with the Lord our God.”


text: Heb “walking in.”


text: Heb “keeping.”


text: Heb “as this day.”


text: Or “tokens of peace”; NIV, TEV “fellowship offerings.”


text: Heb “to hold the burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.”


text: Or “the Wadi of Egypt” (NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “the Egyptian Gorge.”


text: Heb “Solomon held at that time the festival, and all Israel was with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days, fourteen days.”


text: Heb “on the eighth day” (that is, the day after the second seven-day sequence).


text: Heb “they blessed the king.”


text: Heb “good of heart.”