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2 Crônicas 7

BLIVRE · Chapter 7/36

1E quando Salomão acabou de orar, o fogo desceu dos céus, e consumiu o holocausto e as vítimas; e a glória do SENHOR encheu a casa.

2E não podiam entrar os sacerdotes na casa do SENHOR, porque a glória do SENHOR havia enchido a casa do SENHOR.

3E quando viram todos os filhos de Israel descer o fogo e a glória do SENHOR sobre a casa, caíram em terra sobre seus rostos no pavimento, e adoraram, confessando ao SENHOR e dizendo: Que é bom, que sua misericórdia é para sempre.

4Então o rei e todo o povo sacrificaram vítimas diante do SENHOR.

5E ofereceu o rei Salomão em sacrifício vinte e dois mil bois, e cento e vinte mil ovelhas; e assim dedicaram a casa de Deus o rei e todo o povo.

6E os sacerdotes assistiam em seu ministério; e os levitas com os instrumentos de música do SENHOR, os quais havia feito o rei Davi para confessar ao SENHOR, que sua misericórdia é para sempre; quando Davi louvava por mão deles. Assim os sacerdotes tinham trombetas diante deles, e todo Israel estava em pé.

7Salomão também santificou o meio do átrio que estava diante da casa do SENHOR, porquanto havia oferecido ali os holocaustos, e a gordura dos sacrifícios pacíficos; porque no altar de bronze que Salomão havia feito, não podiam caber os holocaustos, e a oferta de alimentos, e as gorduras.

8Então fez Salomão festa durante sete dias, e com ele todo Israel, uma grande congregação, desde a entrada de Hamate até o ribeiro do Egito.

9Ao oitavo dia fizeram convocação, porque haviam feito a dedicação do altar em sete dias, e haviam celebrado a solenidade por sete dias.

10E aos vinte e três do mês sétimo enviou ao povo a suas moradas, alegres e jubilosos de coração pelos benefícios que o SENHOR havia feito a Davi, e a Salomão, e a seu povo Israel.

11Acabou pois Salomão a casa do SENHOR, e a casa do rei: e todo o que Salomão teve em vontade de fazer na casa do SENHOR e em sua casa, foi próspero.

12E apareceu o SENHOR a Salomão de noite, e disse-lhe: Eu ei ouvido tua oração, e escolhi para mim este lugar por casa de sacrifício.

13Se eu fechar os céus, que não haja chuva, e se mandar à locusta que consuma a terra, ou se enviar pestilência a meu povo;

14Se se humilhar meu povo, sobre os quais nem nome é invocado, e orarem, e buscarem meu rosto, e se converterem de seus maus caminhos; então eu ouvirei desde os céus, e perdoarei seus pecados, e sararei sua terra.

15Agora estarão abertos meus olhos, e atentos meus ouvidos, à oração em este lugar:

16Pois que agora escolhi e santifiquei esta casa, para que esteja nela meu nome para sempre; e meus olhos e meu coração estarão aí para sempre.

17E tu, se andares diante de mim, como andou Davi teu pai, e fizeres todas as coisas que eu te ei mandado, e guardares meus estatutos e meus direitos,

18Eu confirmarei o trono de teu reino, como estabeleci com Davi teu pai, dizendo: Não faltará homem de ti que domine em Israel.

19Mas se vós vos desviardes, e deixardes meus estatutos e meus preceitos que vos propus, e fordes e servirdes a deuses alheios, e os adorardes,

20Eu os arrancarei de minha terra que lhes dei; e esta casa que ei santifiquei a meu nome, eu a lançarei de diante de mim, e a porei por provérbio e fábula em todos os povos.

21E esta casa que haverá sido ilustre, será espanto a todo o que passar, e dirá: Por que há feito assim o SENHOR a esta terra e a esta casa?

22E se responderá: Por quanto deixaram ao SENHOR Deus de seus pais, o qual os tirou da terra do Egito, e abraçaram deuses alheios, e os adoraram e serviram: por isso ele trouxe todo este mal sobre eles.

📖 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.

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