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Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Yahweh before the new courtyard. And he said, “O Yahweh, God of our ancestors,[a] are you not God in heaven? Now you rule in all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand are power and might, and there is none who can resist against you. O, our God, did you yourself not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants[b] of Abraham your friend forever? And they lived in it and built for you a sanctuary for your name in it, saying, ‘If disaster, a sword, punishment, disease, or famine come upon us, we shall stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you out of our trouble, then you will hear and save us.’ 10 And now, look, the people[c] of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir whom you did not allow Israel to come against when they came from Egypt, from whom they turned aside and did not destroy, 11 now behold, they are rewarding us by coming to dispossess us from your possession which you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, will you not judge them, for there is no power in us before this great multitude that is coming against us. Now we do not know what we shall do, for our eyes are upon you.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 20:6 Or “fathers”
  2. 2 Chronicles 20:7 Or “seed”
  3. 2 Chronicles 20:10 Or “sons”

Jehoshaphat Prays and the People Wait

Jehoshaphat stood among the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the Lord’s Temple in the vicinity of the new court and said:

Lord God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven, are you not? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, don’t you? In your own hands you grasp both strength and power, don’t you? As a result, no one can oppose you, can they? You are our God, who expelled the former inhabitants of this land right in front of our people Israel, aren’t you? Then you gave it to your friend Abraham’s descendant[a] forever, didn’t you? They lived in it and have built there a sanctuary for your name, where they said, ‘If evil comes upon us, such as war[b] as punishment, disease, or famine and we stand in your presence in this Temple (because your Name is in this Temple) and cry out to you in our distress, then you will hear and deliver.’ 10 Now therefore look! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of[c] Mount Seir,[d] whom you would not permit Israel to attack when they arrived from the land of Egypt—since they turned away from them and did not eliminate them— 11 Look how they’re rewarding us! They’re coming to drive us from your property that you gave us to be our inheritance. 12 Our God, you are going to punish them, aren’t you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 20:7 Lit seed (sing.)
  2. 2 Chronicles 20:9 Lit. us the sword
  3. 2 Chronicles 20:10 The Heb. lacks inhabitants of
  4. 2 Chronicles 20:10 This mountain, the modern Jebel esh-sherá, is located in the mountain range that extends south of the Dead Sea toward the Gulf of Aqaba, and is bordered by the Arabah Valley to the west.