¹ tn Heb “because you asked for this thing, and did not ask for yourself many days and did not ask for yourself riches and did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you asked for yourself understanding to hear judgment.”

² tn Heb “which Hiram made for King Solomon [for] the house of the Lord.”

³ tn Heb “and you, hear [from] heaven and act and judge your servants by declaring the guilty to be guilty, to give his way on his head, and to declare the innocent to be innocent, to give to him according to his innocence.”

⁴ tn Heb “to bend our hearts toward him.” The infinitive is subordinate to the initial prayer, “may the Lord our God be with us.” The Hebrew term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the people’s volition and will.

⁵ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways.”

⁶ tn Heb “keep.”

⁷ tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”

⁸ tn Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav (וְנַעַבְדֶךָ, [vÿna’avdekha] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative (הָקֵל [haqel], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.

⁹ tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר (ba’ar) as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I am ready to sweep away Baasha and his family.” Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.

¹⁰ tc The Old Greek, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum have here “his house.”

¹¹ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of Hosts.”

¹² tn Heb “(before whom I stand).”

¹³ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “because of the provocation by which you angered [me], and you caused Israel to sin.”

¹⁵ tn Or “swear an oath by.”