2 Chronicles 20:1–30

Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir Defeated

20It happened after this that the people of ^aMoab with the people of ^bAmmon, and others with them besides the ^cAmmonites, ¹came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ²Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from ²Syria; and they are ^din Hazazon Tamar” (which is ^eEn Gedi). ³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set ³himself to ^fseek the Lord, and ^gproclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴So Judah gathered together to ask ^hhelp from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not ⁱGod in heaven, and ^jdo You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and ^kin Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? ⁷Are You not ^lour God, who ^mdrove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham ⁿYour friend forever? ⁸And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ^9o‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your ^pname is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You ^qwould not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but ^rthey turned from them and did not destroy them—¹¹here they are, rewarding us ^sby coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will You not ^tjudge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but ^uour eyes are upon You.”

¹³Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

¹⁴Then ^vthe Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ^w‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, ^xfor the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ⁴brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ^17yYou will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, ^zfor the Lord is with you.”

¹⁸And Jehoshaphat ^abowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

²⁰So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: ^bBelieve in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” ²¹And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, ^cand who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

^d“Praise the Lord,

^eFor His mercy endures forever.”

²²Now when they began to sing and to praise, ^fthe Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they ⁵had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, ^gthey helped to destroy one another.

²⁴So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

²⁵When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the ⁶dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of ⁷Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. ²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had ^hmade them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹And ⁱthe fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his ^jGod gave him rest all around.