Skip to content
mannafest.faith

2 Chronicles 7:16

in 2 Chronicles 7

For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

KJV

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

This verse in 2 Chronicles 7

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive

on 2 Chronicles 7:15-16

The promise turns concrete, echoing Solomon's plea at 6:40. Barnes takes it to cover prayers offered inside the house and prayers offered toward it from a distance, the two cases Solomon named. Verse 16 makes the choice lasting, “My eyes and My heart will be there for all time”.

This site's exposition

chosen and consecrated this temple

Verse 20 names this same consecrated house as the one God will cast from His presence if Israel turns to other gods. The promise and the warning speak of one house. Henry reads the covenant as setting death before Solomon as well as life, the curse beside the blessing.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), that is, "There will I make myself known, and there will I be called upon." II. He promised to answer the prayers of his people that should at any time be made in that place,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the L ORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the L ORD , saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the L ORD .

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:91%@v3-4

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

and My eyes and heart will be Jonathan renders (I Kings:3): “and My presence will rest there if My will is performed there at all times.” My eyes will be there if My heart and My will are there.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 7:16:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְעַתָּ֗הand now

    veatahH6258 →433 times

  • בָּחַ֤רְתִּיI have chosen

    bachartiH977 →171 times

  • וְהִקְדַּ֙שְׁתִּי֙and I have consecrated

    vehikdashtiH6942 →171 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַבַּ֣יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • הַזֶּ֔ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • לִהְיוֹת־to be

    lihyot-H1961 →3559 times

  • שְׁמִ֥יname my

    shemiH8034 →864 times

  • שָׁ֖םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H5704 →1261 times

  • עוֹלָ֑םperpetuity

    olamH5769 →438 times

  • וְהָי֨וּand they will be

    vehayuH1961 →3559 times

  • עֵינַ֧יeyes my

    ʾeinaiH5869 →887 times

  • וְלִבִּ֛יand heart my

    velibiH3820 →595 times

  • שָׁ֖םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַיָּמִֽים׃the days

    haiyamimH3117 →2304 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 7:15

    Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 1:6

      let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Peter 3:12

      For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

    • 2 Chronicles 6:40

      Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

    • 2 Chronicles 6:20

      May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward…

  • Through

    1 Kings 9:3

    And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 8:29

      May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays…

    • 1 John 5:14

      And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

    • 2 Kings 20:5

      “Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I…

    • Psalms 10:17

      You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Chronicles

Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.