2 Chronicles 6:21

Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Solomon speaks to God during the dedication of the temple, asking Him to listen when Israel directs prayers toward the newly constructed sanctuary. He addresses the Lord as the king who has established the temple as the designated focal point for national intercession.

The words — The Hebrew verb שָׁמַעְתָּ (sha.ma'.ta) translates literally as "you will listen," paired with תַּחֲנוּנֵי (ta.cha.nu.ne), meaning "supplications" or "pleas." This construction ties God's attentive response directly to earnest petition rather than passive observation.

The thread — The linkage of divine hearing and forgiveness runs through Micah 7:18, Isaiah 43:25, and Daniel 9:19, where God's pardon of iniquity and blotting out of transgressions is consistently affirmed. These references establish a continuous biblical pattern where God's response to prayer is fundamentally tied to His willingness to forgive.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that prayer toward the temple is the mechanism through which the people access God's attentive hearing and forgiveness. It demands a practical posture of dependence, where intercession is the means of receiving mercy rather than relying on ritual location alone.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְשָׁ֨מַעְתָּ֜ve./Sha.ma'.taand/ you will listen אֶל־'el-to תַּחֲנוּנֵ֤יta.cha.nu.Nei[the] supplications of עַבְדְּךָ֙'av.de./Khaservant/ your וְעַמְּךָ֣ve./'a.me./Khaand/ people/ your יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'ElIsrael אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich יִֽתְפַּֽלְל֖וּyit.pa.Luthey will pray אֶל־'el-to הַמָּק֣וֹםha./ma.Komthe/ place הַזֶּ֑הha./Zeh<the>/ this וְ֠אַתָּהVe./'a.tahand/ you תִּשְׁמַ֞עtish.Ma'you will hear מִמְּק֤וֹםmi./me.Komfrom/ [the] place of שִׁבְתְּךָ֙shiv.te./Khadwelling/ you מִן־min-from הַשָּׁמַ֔יִםha./sha.Ma.yimthe/ heavens וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֖ve./sha.ma'.Taand/ you will hear וְסָלָֽחְתָּ׃ve./sa.La.che.taand/ you will forgive

King James Version

Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

Cross-references

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Isaiah 43:25 I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Daniel 9:19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”
2 Chronicles 6:39 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.
2 Chronicles 30:27 Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voice, and their prayer came into His holy dwelling place in heaven.
Psalms 130:3 If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
Matthew 6:9 So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.