✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

2 Crônicas 7

ARC · Chapter 7/36

1E acabando Salomão de orar, desceu o fogo do céu, e consumiu o holocausto e os sacrificios: e a gloria do Senhor encheu a casa.

2E os sacerdotes não podiam entrar na casa do Senhor; porque a gloria do Senhor tinha enchido a casa do Senhor.

3E todos os filhos d'Israel vendo descer o fogo, e a gloria do Senhor sobre a casa, encurvaram-se com o rosto em terra sobre o pavimento, e adoraram e louvaram ao Senhor: porque é bom, porque a sua benignidade dura para sempre.

4E o rei e todo o povo offereciam sacrificios perante o Senhor.

5E o rei Salomão offereceu sacrificios de bois, vinte e dois mil, e d'ovelhas cento e vinte mil: e o rei e todo o povo consagraram a casa de Deus.

6E os sacerdotes segundo as suas turmas estavam em pé; como tambem os levitas com os instrumentos musicos do Senhor, que o rei David tinha feito, para louvarem ao Senhor, porque a sua benignidade dura para sempre, quando David o louvava pelo ministerio d'elles: e os sacerdotes tocavam as trombetas defronte d'elles, e todo o Israel estava em pé.

7E Salomão sanctificou o meio do pateo, que estava diante da casa do Senhor; porquanto ali tinha elle offerecido os holocaustos e a gordura dos sacrificios pacificos; porque no altar de metal, que Salomão tinha feito, não podia caber o holocausto, e a offerta de manjares, e a gordura.

8E n'aquelle mesmo tempo celebrou Salomão a festa sete dias e todo o Israel com elle, uma mui grande congregação, desde a entrada d'Hamath, até ao rio do Egypto.

9E ao dia oitavo celebraram o dia de prohibição; porque sete dias celebraram a consagração do altar, e sete dias a festa.

10E no dia vigesimo terceiro do setimo mez, deixou ir o povo para as suas tendas, alegres e de bom animo, pelo bem que o Senhor tinha feito a David, e a Salomão, e a seu povo Israel.

11Assim Salomão acabou a casa do Senhor, e a casa do rei: e tudo quanto Salomão intentou fazer na casa do Senhor e na sua casa prosperamente o effeituou.

12E o Senhor appareceu de noite a Salomão, e disse-lhe: Ouvi a tua oração, e escolhi para mim este logar para casa de sacrificio.

13Se eu cerrar os céus, e não houver chuva; ou se ordenar aos gafanhotos que consumam a terra; ou se enviar a peste entre o meu povo:

14E se o meu povo, que se chama pelo meu nome, se humilhar, e orar, e buscar a minha face e se converter dos seus maus caminhos, então eu ouvirei dos céus, e perdoarei os seus peccados, e sararei a sua terra.

15Agora estarão abertos os meus olhos e attentos os meus ouvidos á oração d'este logar.

16Porque agora escolhi e sanctifiquei esta casa, para que o meu nome esteja n'ella perpetuamente: e n'ellas estarão fixos os meus olhos e o meu coração todos os dias.

17E, quanto a ti, se andares diante de mim, como andou David teu pae, e fizeres conforme a tudo o que te ordenei, e guardares os meus estatutos e os meus juizos,

18Tambem confirmarei o throno do teu reino, conforme o concerto que fiz com David, teu pae, dizendo: Não te faltará varão que domine em Israel.

19Porém se vós vos desviardes, e deixardes os meus estatutos, e os meus mandamentos, que vos tenho proposto, e fordes, e servirdes a outros deuses, e vos prostrardes a elles,

20Então os arrancarei da minha terra que lhes dei, e lançarei da minha presença esta casa que consagrei ao meu nome, e farei com que seja por proverbio e mote entre todas as gentes.

21E d'esta casa, que fôra tão exaltada, qualquer que passar por ella se espantará e dirá: Porque fez o Senhor assim com esta terra e com esta casa?

22E dirão: Porquanto deixaram ao Senhor Deus de seus paes, que os tirou da terra do Egypto, e se deram a outros deuses, e se prostraram a elles, e os serviram: por isso elle trouxe sobre elles todo este mal.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the offered sacrifices, confirming divine acceptance of the temple. After a great dedication celebration, God appears again to Solomon at night, promising to hear the people's prayers, but also warning of the consequences of future disobedience.

Explanation

The visible descent of fire onto the altar, consuming the sacrifices before the entire assembled people, serves as a clear and public divine confirmation that God accepted that temple as his dwelling place — a sign similar to what also happened, for example, at the dedication of the tabernacle. God's response to Solomon contains one of the most quoted passages in the entire Bible about national repentance: the promise that if the people humble themselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from their wicked ways, God will forgive their sins and restore the land. This text has been used throughout history as a general call to collective repentance in times of crisis.

Fun facts

  • The passage 'if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven' (2 Chronicles 7:14) is one of the most quoted verses in contexts of spiritual renewal and national repentance to this day.
  • The temple dedication celebration lasted fourteen days in total, combining seven days devoted specifically to consecrating the altar with another seven days for the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the largest religious celebrations ever recorded in Israel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 7:1The fire that comes down from heaven and consumes the offering is the visible confirmation that God accepted that temple, the same way it had happened before with the tabernacle in Moses’s time. It’s the kind of sign nobody there could mistake for coincidence.
  2. 2 Crônicas 7:2God’s glory fills the temple so completely that not even the priests can enter — God’s presence literally takes over the physical space of the newly dedicated building.
  3. 2 Crônicas 7:3Seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, all the people kneel with their faces to the ground, worshiping and repeating the refrain, “For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
  4. 2 Crônicas 7:4After this moment of collective worship, the king and all the people go on to offer sacrifices before the Lord — the dedication ceremony continues in practice.
  5. 2 Crônicas 7:5Solomon sacrifices an impressive number of animals — twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred twenty thousand sheep — in this joint consecration of the temple by the king and the people.
  6. 2 Crônicas 7:6Priests and Levites take their positions in their service divisions, playing the instruments David himself had made for praising God, while all Israel remains standing.
  7. 2 Crônicas 7:7The courtyard’s bronze altar was too small to handle so many sacrifices at once, so Solomon also consecrates the middle of the courtyard to fit the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat.
  8. 2 Crônicas 7:8The dedication feast lasts seven days, drawing people from an enormous stretch of territory — from the entrance of Hamath in the north to the river of Egypt in the south.
  9. 2 Crônicas 7:9On the eighth day a specific solemn assembly takes place, since the previous seven days had been divided between consecrating the altar and the feast itself.
  10. 2 Crônicas 7:10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sends the people home, all of them glad for the good God had done for David, for Solomon, and for Israel.
  11. 2 Crônicas 7:11With the temple and his own palace finished, the text sums up: everything Solomon planned to do, he managed to carry out successfully.
  12. 2 Crônicas 7:12God appears to Solomon at night, confirming that He heard the dedication prayer and has chosen that temple as a house of sacrifice — the answer that opens the rest of the chapter.
  13. 2 Crônicas 7:13God lists three kinds of crisis He might send as punishment — lack of rain, a locust plague, or pestilence — the same scenarios Solomon had already named in his own prayer.
  14. 2 Crônicas 7:14This promise — if the people humble themselves, pray, and turn back, God will hear and heal the land — is God’s direct answer to Solomon’s dedication prayer in the previous chapter, addressed specifically to this temple and this people at that moment.
  15. 2 Crônicas 7:15God promises that, from now on, His eyes and ears will stay attentive specifically to the prayers made at that temple — the direct answer to Solomon’s request in the previous chapter.
  16. 2 Crônicas 7:16God confirms that He has chosen and set apart that temple so that His name may dwell there forever, with His eyes and heart turned toward that place every day.
  17. 2 Crônicas 7:17God’s promise to Solomon comes with a personal condition: follow David’s example of faithfulness, obeying everything commanded.
  18. 2 Crônicas 7:18If that condition is met, God guarantees He will establish the throne of the kingdom, keeping the old promise that a descendant of David will never fail to rule Israel.
  19. 2 Crônicas 7:19But God also warns of the opposite: if the people abandon the commandments and turn to worshiping other gods, the consequences come in the next verse.
  20. 2 Crônicas 7:20The warning is direct: if the people abandon the covenant, God will uproot them from the land and abandon this very temple He has just consecrated, to the point that it becomes a byword for anyone passing by afterward. It’s almost an advance summary of what will actually happen at the end of the book, centuries later.
  21. 2 Crônicas 7:21God foresees that the temple itself, so admired today, will become an astonishment in the future — people will pass by asking why He let that happen to the land and the house.
  22. 2 Crônicas 7:22The answer to that future question comes ready-made: it was because the people abandoned the God who brought them out of Egypt and went to serve other gods — a summary of the reason for the exile, told well before it happens.

Chapters

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play