2 Chronicles 20:1–25

War Against Judah

¹Now it happened after this, that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the ^1aAmmonites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.

²Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of ¹Aram and behold, they are in ^aHazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).”

³And Jehoshaphat was afraid and ^1aset his face to seek Yahweh, and ^bcalled for a fast throughout all Judah.

⁴So Judah gathered together to ^aseek help from Yahweh; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh.

Jehoshaphat Before the Assembly

⁵Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh before the new court,

⁶and he said, “O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, ^aare You not God in the heavens? And ^bare You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can take their stand against You.

⁷“Did You not, O our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and ^agive it to the seed of ^bAbraham Your friend forever?

⁸“And they have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying,

⁹‘^aShould evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for ^bYour name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.’

¹⁰“So now, behold, ^athe sons of Ammon and Moab and ¹Mount Seir, ^bwhom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them),

¹¹and behold, they are rewarding us by ^acoming to drive us out from Your possession which You have caused us to possess.

¹²“O our God, ^awill You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but ^bour eyes are on You.”

¹³Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

Yahweh’s Spirit Comes upon Jahaziel

¹⁴Then in the midst of the assembly ^athe Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph;

¹⁵and he said, “Pay attention, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says Yahweh to you, ‘^aDo not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for ^bthe battle is not yours but God’s.

¹⁶‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷‘You need not fight in this battle; take your stand—^astand and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, ^bfor Yahweh is with you.”

¹⁸So Jehoshaphat ^abowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh.

¹⁹Then the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, rose up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Yahweh Eradicates the Multitude

²⁰And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^aestablish your faith in Yahweh your God and you will be established. Establish your faith in His prophets and succeed.”

²¹When he had taken counsel with the people, he caused those who sang to Yahweh and those who ^apraised Him to stand in holy attire, as they went out before the army, saying, “^bGive thanks to Yahweh, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

²²When they began singing for joy and praising, Yahweh ^aset ambushes against the sons of ^bAmmon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were ¹defeated.

²³Indeed, the sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to devote them to destruction and to utterly eradicate them; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, ^athey helped to bring one another to ruin.

²⁴Now Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, and they turned toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses fallen on the ground, and no one had escaped.

²⁵So Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil and found much among them, including goods, ¹garments, and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much.