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35 “The time will come when[a] the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people[b] sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you,[c] and turn away from their sin because you punish[d] them, 36 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly[e] you will then teach them the right way to live[f] and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess.[g]

37 “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust[h] invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land,[i] or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 8:35 tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 35-36a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
  2. 1 Kings 8:35 tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. 1 Kings 8:35 tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”
  4. 1 Kings 8:35 tn The Hebrew text has “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (ʿanah, “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 (teʿannem, “you afflict them”), a Piel verb form from the homonym עָנָה (ʿanah, “to afflict”).
  5. 1 Kings 8:36 tn The translation understands כִּי (ki) in an emphatic or asseverative sense.
  6. 1 Kings 8:36 tn Heb “the good way in which they should walk.”
  7. 1 Kings 8:36 tn Or “for an inheritance.”
  8. 1 Kings 8:37 tn 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.
  9. 1 Kings 8:37 tn Heb “in the land, his gates.”

35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain(A) because your people have sinned(B) against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach(C) them the right way(D) to live, and send rain(E) on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

37 “When famine(F) or plague(G) comes to the land, or blight(H) or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers,(I) or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,

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