And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant and of thy people Israel: The somewhat archaic verb hearken is replaced by “hear” in New Revised Standard Version. New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible use the verb “Listen.” For the Hebrew noun rendered supplications, see the comments on verse 19. Since this noun has the connotation of pleading, the word “plea” (New Revised Standard Version) is better than the general term “prayers” (Good News Translation). For thy servant, see the comments on verse 19.

When they pray toward this place: Parole de Vie renders when they pray as “when we pray,” so that Solomon does not exclude himself from the people of Israel. Other languages may find this helpful. As in the previous verse, toward this place means “toward the Temple.” In this chapter the writer several times speaks of facing toward the Temple (verses 21, 26, 29, 34, 38), toward the city of Jerusalem (verse 34, 38), and even toward the country of Israel (verse 38) when the people pray.

Yea is literally “and you [singular].” The Hebrew pronoun here indicates emphasis and urgency, which Revised Standard Version expresses with the word yea.

Hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place: This expression is used eight times in this prayer (verses 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39), sometimes in the shortened form “hear thou from/in heaven.” It is an appeal to Yahweh to listen to the prayers of his people from his home in heaven. The verb hear implies a favorable hearing. The Hebrew word translated heaven is the same one rendered “sky” in other contexts. Translators should translate heaven here as a place where God is thought to dwell. The text itself defines what it means by adding thy dwelling place (Complete Jewish Bible “where you live”). One possible translation for this whole clause is “answer from your home in heaven” (Contemporary English Version).

And when thou hearest, forgive: The desired result of God’s hearing is his forgiveness. Some languages may require an object for the verb forgive. The implied object of this verb is “us,” as some translations make explicit (so Good News Translation, New Century Version, Moffatt). Contemporary English Version says “forgive our sins,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar with “forgive us all sin.” Another possibility is “forgive your people.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .