2 Chronicles 6:36-39 - Exposition

The matter of these verses is given fuller in the parallel ( 1 Kings 8:46-53 ). The prayer is remarkable all the more as the last of the whole series, and one so sadly ominous! The last clause of 2 Chronicles 6:36 , carrying the expression far off , as the alternative of near, throws its lurid glare of unwelcome suggestion on all the rest. No man which sinneth not . The words need the summoning of no biblical parallels, for these are so numerous. But out of the rest emphasis may be placed at least on those furnished by Solomon himself— Proverbs 20:9 ; Ecclesiastes 7:21 ; both of which are particularly sententious. Bethink themselves . The words well express, in English idiom, the literal Hebrew, as in margin, "bring back to their heart" ( Deuteronomy 30:1-11 ). Have sinned,… done amiss,… dealt wickedly (so Psalms 106:6 ; Daniel 9:5 ). The Authorized Version in the parallel ( 1 Kings 8:47 ) is somewhat happier in its rendering of the three verbs employed here. It seems doubtful whether these have it in them to form a climax; more probably they speak of three different directions in wrong going. The parallel is well worthy of being referred to, in its verses 50, 51.