Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 7:2
The priests were unable to enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Solomon has just concluded his dedication prayer when fire descends from heaven to consume the offerings and the glory of the LORD fills the sanctuary. The priests who normally minister there are physically barred from entering the house of the LORD.
The words — יָֽכְלוּ (yakhelu) means "they were able," negated by לֹא (lo) to state the priests could not enter. The conjunction כִּי (ki) introduces the causal reason: the glory of the LORD had filled the house.
The thread — This divine barrier to holy space appears in 2 Chronicles 5:14, where a cloud prevents the priests from standing to minister, and in Revelation 15:8, where smoke from God’s glory blocks temple entry. Exodus 24:17 further records the glory of the LORD appearing as a consuming fire to the Israelites.
Why it lands — The text states that God’s manifested presence physically interrupts priestly routine and restricts access to the sanctuary. Readers must acknowledge that divine glory operates outside human scheduling and demands immediate reverence rather than procedural control.
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
King James Version
And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.
Cross-references
- Revelation 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
- 2 Chronicles 5:14 so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
- Exodus 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”