2 Chronicles 7:21 (ASV)

Passage

And this house, which is so high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house?

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 7:19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

2 Chronicles 7:20 then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

2 Chronicles 7:21 And this house, which is so high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house?

2 Chronicles 7:22 And they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "house", "high", "passeth", "shall", "astonished", "hath", and "jehovah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "house" and "high", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "then will I pluck them up by..." into verse 22's "And they shall answer Because they forsook...", so "house" and "high" belong inside that flow. In 2 Chronicles context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "house" and "high" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.