“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
Parallel Translations
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“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
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If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;
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If Thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatsoever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Thee toward this city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name;
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to 2 Chronicles 6:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Chronicles 20:6-13 and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you. Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham your friend forever? They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, ‘If evil comes on us—the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this house, and before you (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them; behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
- Numbers 31:2-6 “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian. You shall send one thousand out of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, to the war.” So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
- Deuteronomy 20:1-4 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
- Joshua 1:2-5 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.
- Joshua 8:1-8 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.” So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them, and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand. It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to Yahweh’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”
- Judges 1:1-2 After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.”
- 1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
- 1 Samuel 15:18 and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
- 1 Kings 8:13 I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
- 1 Kings 8:44-45 “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
- 2 Chronicles 6:6 but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- 2 Chronicles 14:9-12 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.” So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
- 2 Chronicles 18:31 When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they turned around to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and Yahweh helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.
- 2 Chronicles 20:4 Judah gathered themselves together to seek help from Yahweh. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh.
- 2 Chronicles 32:20-21 Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body killed him there with the sword.
- Isaiah 14:32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
- Daniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, that none ought to enterprise any war, but…
Meaning, that none ought to enterprise any war, but at the Lord’s commandment, that is, which is lawful by his word.
Or, according to the manner of this city.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (34) Toward this city.—Literally, the way of this city.…
(34) Toward this city.—Literally, the way of this city. So in 2Ch_6:38, “the way of their land.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 34, 35. The different supposition of these verses,…
Vers. 34, 35. The different supposition of these verses, compared with vers. 24, 25, is plain. Here we are reminded how right it is to implore a blessing before we go out to our allotted labour, or even on some specially and divinely appointed enterprise.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain If Thy people go out to war.
2Ch_6:34-35
If Thy people go out to war.
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The lawfulness of war
I shall take these words as a political maxim and moral precept comprehending these two propositions.
I. That here is couched a supposition, that upon just grounds and lawful causes any nation may declare and make war upon another, implied in the expression, If they go out to war against their enemies, by the way that God should send them. The just grounds of war according to the Laws of Nations and Arms are--
1. Those that concern the maintaining the public faith.
2. Those that respect the vindication of the honour of the Crown.
3. Those that relate to the prevention of the great and apparent dangers that threaten the general peace.
II. The positive duty and obligation that all nations lie under, in case of the declaration of such a war, to seek God with a solemn humiliation and repentance, for His assistance and succour to maintain their cause or right.
1. Because war is an appeal to God for the justice of a national cause.
2. Because of the great dangers and uncertainties that attend war. How many armies have their designs and themselves ruined by the little advantage of ground, the pass of a river, a sudden surprise, an undermining stratagem, the alteration of the weather, the fall of snow or rain, the misunderstanding of a word given, the spreading a false rumour or alarm; nay, the start of a horse, the mere error of the eye, or the information of a deserter! Which has overturned all policy, made power impotent, and victory unexpected. How many fleets have been dissipated with a mist, broken and sunk with a storm, and blown up with a spark of fire! (Ecc_9:11; chap, 14:11; Lev_26:8).
3. Because it will engage God to be on our side, and to vindicate our cause.
4. Because this solemn invocation of the Divine assistance, joined with a public humiliation and repentance, will be a means to avert those judgments that were otherwise due to our sins, and which we should have reason to fear might prevent the success of our arms, and provoke God to give us up to the will of our enemies.
5. Because prayer is an absolutely necessary and conditional means to success in war. (Henry Sacheverell, D. D.)
The wise mans prayer for the warrior
(preached on a day of general humiliation on account of war):--Under most of the ordinary occurrences of life, there is the strongest tendency to overlook the relationship subsisting between ourselves as human beings and the providence of God. In many instances it is only on extraordinary occasions that individuals are first led to a practical recognition of the supremacy of God. It is when sickness produces its enfeebling effects on the frame; or when the angel of death gains admittance to their dwellings; or when adversity demonstrates to them the vanity of centring their affections on earthly treasures; or when pestilence extends its ravages throughout the land, or when war, with its horrors, thins their armies at home or abroad; it is often under such circumstances that men are primarily led to think of their souls and their Maker. An occurrence which shall generate in the minds of any a fitting sense of their dependence for succour on the Lord of heaven and earth, in whatever way that occurrence may have originated, must at least be, overruled by Providence for good.
I. That when a people are engaged in the chastisement of their enemies it is required that they should have recourse to united supplication, that their efforts might be crowned with victory. Men are as much bound as ever to make national entreaties for the bestowal of national mercies, and for the successful issue of legitimate national movements.
II. The spirit in which our united supplications should be offered. We should pray, as penitents for pardon; as sinners for salvation; as patriots for our country; and as followers of Him who has taught us to love our enemies, for those enemies themselves. (H. B. Moffat, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
King Solomon continues praying.
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Suppose that your people go out ... suppose that they pray
When Solomon was speaking, these hypothetical situations had not happened, but Solomon knew that they might happen in the future. Use the form in your language for talking about events that have not happened but might happen in the future. (See: Hypothetical Situations)
they pray to you toward this city ... and toward the house
Praying toward Jerusalem and the temple shows that they are praying to Yahweh. (See: Symbolic Action)
the house that I have built
Solomon speaks of commanding the people to build the temple and telling them how to do it as if he himself had built it. AT: "this house that your people have built under my leadership" or "this house that I and your people have built" (See: Synecdoche)
for your name
Possible meanings are 1) Yahweh's name represents himself. AT: "for you" or 2) Yahweh's name represents his reputation. AT: "for your reputation" (See: Metonymy)
to their prayer, their request
The abstract nouns "prayer" and "request" can be stated as verbs. AT: "to what they request when they pray to you" (See: Doublet)
help their cause
This refers to helping them fight against their enemies.
translationWords
people of God
pray
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:34-35 Petition 6: Solomon asked God to hear the…
6:34-35 Petition 6: Solomon asked God to hear the prayers of the people when they went out at God’s command to fight their enemies.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.