2 Chronicles 6:18

6:18 “God does not really live with humankind on the earth! ¹  Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

2 Chronicles 7:13

7:13 When ²  I close up the sky ³  so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, ⁴  or send a plague among my people,

2 Chronicles 33:3

33:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ⁵  and worshiped ⁶  them.

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¹ tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live with mankind on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “God does not really live with mankind on the earth.”

² tn Or “if.”

³ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁴ tn Heb “the land,” which stands here by metonymy for the vegetation growing in it.

⁵ tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הֲַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.

⁶ tn Or “served.”