2 Tawarikh 6:26-28

6:26 “The time will come when ¹  the skies ²  are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people ³  sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, ⁴  and turn away from their sin because you punish ⁵  them, 6:27 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly ⁶  you will then teach them the right way to live ⁷  and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. ⁸ 

6:28 “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust ⁹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ¹⁰  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

Ulangan 11:17

11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ¹¹  against you and he will close up the sky ¹²  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ¹³  from the good land that the Lord ¹⁴  is about to give you.

Ayub 11:10

11:10 If he comes by ¹⁵  and confines ¹⁶  you ¹⁷ 

and convenes a court, ¹⁸ 

then who can prevent ¹⁹  him?

Ayub 12:14

12:14 If ²⁰  he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;

if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. ²¹ 

Mazmur 107:34

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ²² 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Lukas 4:25

4:25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ²³  when the sky ²⁴  was shut up three and a half years, and ²⁵  there was a great famine over all the land.

Wahyu 3:7

To the Church in Philadelphia

3:7 “To ²⁶  the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the following: ²⁷ 

“This is the solemn pronouncement of ²⁸  the Holy One, the True One, who holds the key of David, who opens doors ²⁹  no one can shut, and shuts doors ³⁰  no one can open:

Wahyu 11:6

11:6 These two have the power ³¹  to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time ³²  they are prophesying. They ³³  have power ³⁴  to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

[6:26]  ¹ tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 26-27a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[6:26]  ² tn Or “heavens” (also in v. 12). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[6:26]  ³ tn Heb “they.”

[6:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[6:26]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’anah, “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 (“afflict”).

[6:27]  ⁶ tn The present translation understands כִּי (ki) in an emphatic or asseverative sense (“Certainly”). Other translation have “indeed” (NASB), “when” (NRSV), “so” (NEB), or leave the word untranslated (NIV).

[6:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “the good way in which they should walk.”

[6:27]  ⁸ tn Or “for an inheritance.”

[6:28]  ⁹ tn Actually two Hebrew words appear here, both of which are usually (but not always) taken as referring to locusts. Perhaps different stages of growth or different varieties are in view, but this is uncertain. NEB has “locusts new-sloughed or fully grown”; NASB has “locust or grasshopper”; NIV has “locusts or grasshoppers”; NRSV has “locust, or caterpillar.”

[6:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the land, his gates.”

[11:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

[11:17]  ¹² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[11:17]  ¹³ tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

[11:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

[11:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb יַחֲלֹף (yakhalof) is literally “passes by/through” (NIV “comes along” in the sense of “if it should so happen”). Many accept the emendation to יַחְתֹּף (yakhtof, “he seizes,” cf. Gordis, Driver), but there is not much support for these.

[11:10]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָגַר (sagar, “to close; to shut”) and so here in this context it probably means something like “to shut in; to confine.” But this is a difficult meaning, and the sentence is cryptic. E. Dhorme (Job, 162) thinks this word and the next have to be antithetical, and so he suggests from a meaning “to keep confined” the idea of keeping a matter secret; and with the next verb, “to convene an assembly,” he offers “to divulge it.”

[11:10]  ¹⁷ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation.

[11:10]  ¹⁸ tn The denominative Hiphil of קָהָל (qahal, “an assembly”) has the idea of “to convene an assembly.” In this context there would be the legal sense of convening a court, i.e., calling Job to account (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 255). See E. Ullendorff, “The Meaning of QHLT,” VT 12 (1962): 215; he defines the verb also as “argue, rebuke.”

[11:10]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “turn him back.” Zophar uses Job’s own words (see 9:12).

[12:14]  ²⁰ tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.

[12:14]  ²¹ tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.

[107:34]  ²² tn Heb “a salty land.”

[4:25]  ²³ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

[4:25]  ²⁴ tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

[4:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).

[3:7]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.

[3:7]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.

[3:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.

[3:7]  sn The expression This is the solemn pronouncement of reflects an OT idiom. See the note on this phrase in 2:1.

[3:7]  ²⁹ tn The word “door” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied in the translation. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context. Since the following verse does contain the word “door” (θύραν, quran), that word has been supplied as the direct object here.

[3:7]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “door” earlier in this verse.

[11:6]  ³¹ tn Or “authority.”

[11:6]  ³² tn Grk “the days.”

[11:6]  ³³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:6]  ³⁴ tn Or “authority.”