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BOOK 14 OF 66 · HISTORY · KING JAMES BIBLE

2 Chronicles 20

2 Chronicles book home•Chapter 20 of 36•37 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

2 Chronicles 20 Overview

A large coalition from Moab, Ammon, and nearby peoples invades Judah. Jehoshaphat fears, sets himself to seek the LORD, and proclaims a fast. In the temple court he prays by recalling God’s rule, past promise, and Judah’s helplessness: ‘we have no might … neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.’ Jahaziel announces that the battle is God’s; Judah goes out with singers praising before the army, and the enemy coalition destroys itself. Later, however, Jehoshaphat’s shipping venture fails because he allies with wicked Ahaziah.

2 ChroniclesBook
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37Verses
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Before you read 2 Chronicles 20

Coming from

Chapter 19 showed Jehoshaphat responding to rebuke by renewing reform and justice.

In this chapter

A national military crisis produces one of Chronicles’ clearest scenes of corporate prayer, dependence, worship, and extraordinary divine deliverance.

Leads into

Chapter 21 begins Jehoram’s reign and shows a tragic reversal as he kills his brothers, follows Ahab’s house, and leads Judah into serious wickedness.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The command ‘stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD’ belongs to a specifically revealed battle situation in Judah. It should not be generalized into a rule that believers should never act, plan, defend, or work. The chapter itself ends by showing that Jehoshaphat still has a weakness for ungodly alliances.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Jehoshaphat responds to fear by seeking God publicly rather than pretending the danger is small.

Truth 2

His prayer appeals to God’s character, promises, and Judah’s admitted helplessness.

Truth 3

The victory is unmistakably God’s because the enemy armies turn on one another.

Truth 4

Worship precedes the visible resolution of the crisis.

Truth 5

A great deliverance does not automatically cure every recurring weakness in a leader.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Exodus 14:13-14 contains similar language about standing still and seeing God’s salvation in a uniquely revealed crisis.

Connection 2

Psalm 46 expresses confidence in God amid overwhelming upheaval.

Connection 3

Second Kings 3 later records conflict involving Moab from another period and setting.

Connection 4

Second Chronicles 19:2 helps explain why the later alliance with Ahaziah is again condemned.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not make this battle method a guaranteed formula that praise will cause enemies to destroy each other.

Keep this clear 2

Fasting and national prayer here are responses under Judah’s covenant setting, not conditions for eternal life.

Keep this clear 3

‘The battle is not yours’ does not abolish ordinary responsibility in situations where God has not given the same specific revelation.

Keep this clear 4

Jehoshaphat’s final failed alliance keeps the chapter from becoming an unqualified hero story.

Read 2 Chronicles 20 watching for…

Jehoshaphat’s first response to fear.

The structure of his public prayer.

The words given through Jahaziel.

The singers’ place in the procession.

How the enemy armies are defeated.

The final warning about alliance with Ahaziah.

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline5 sections
1-13A great army comes against Judah, and Jehoshaphat leads the people in prayer and fasting14-19The Spirit of the LORD speaks through Jahaziel: the battle is God’s20-23Judah goes out praising the LORD, and the enemy armies destroy one another24-30Judah gathers the spoil, blesses the LORD, and returns to Jerusalem with joy31-37Jehoshaphat’s reign is summarized, and his partnership with Ahaziah fails
1

It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

2

Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

3

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

4

And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

5

And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,

6

And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

7

Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

8

And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

9

If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

10

And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

11

Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

12

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

13

And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

14

Then 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, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;

15

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

16

To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

17

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

18

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

19

And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

20

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

21

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

22

And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

23

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

24

And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

25

And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.

26

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

27

Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

28

And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.

29

And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.

30

So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.

31

And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

32

And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD.

33

Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.

34

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

35

And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:

36

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber.

37

Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

STUDY THIS VERSE

2 Chronicles 20:17

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