1 Raja-raja 8:35

8:35 “The time will come when ¹  the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people ²  sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, ³  and turn away from their sin because you punish ⁴  them,

1 Raja-raja 8:37

8:37 “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust ⁵  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ⁶  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

[8:35]  ¹ 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.

[8:35]  ² tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:35]  ³ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[8:35]  ⁴ tn 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”).

[8:37]  ⁵ 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.

[8:37]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the land, his gates.”