forgive. [1]22If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before thine altar in this house: 23then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 24And if thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house: 25then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers. 26When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, [2]when thou [3]dost afflict them: 27then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, [2]when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. 28If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpiller; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their [4]cities; whatsoever plague
Solomon refuses to regard the Temple as Jehovah's "dwelling place." Cp. ii. 6.
22. and an oath be laid upon him] Cp. Ex. xxii. 11. When an accused man attests his innocence before the altar of the Temple either by invoking on himself a curse (the oath of ordeal) or by allowing the priest to invoke one upon him, then may Jehovah judge the matter, allowing the innocent to escape unharmed from the ordeal, and fulfilling the curse against the guilty!
24. and shall turn again] i.e. repent.
28. blasting] The phrase applies to the damage to vegetation in Palestine which is caused by the winds that blow in from the deserts to the east and south (see Smith, Hist. Geog. p. 67). Such winds are spoken of as coming from the east (Gen. xli. 6; Hos. xiii. 15) or from the south (Luke xii. 55).
caterpiller] Rather some kind of locust; see Driver on Joel i. 4.
in the land of their cities] lit. in the land of their gates. The text is
