When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
Parallel Translations
-
When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
-
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.
-
And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to 2 Chronicles 20:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 14:20 Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle; and behold, they were all striking each other with their swords in very great confusion.
- Ezekiel 38:21 I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
- Judges 7:22 They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
- 2 Kings 6:17 Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the young man’s eyes; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.
- Isaiah 19:2 I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
- Psalms 35:5-6 Let them be as chaff before the wind, Yahweh’s angel driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.
- 2 Chronicles 13:13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.
- 2 Chronicles 20:10 Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them;
- 1 Samuel 14:16 The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, the Idumeans which dwelt in mount Seir.
Meaning, the Idumeans which dwelt in mount Seir.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ch 20:22 And when they began to sing and…
2Ch 20:22 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.
Ver. 22. And when they began to sing and to praise.] So at the siege of Mountabon, the people of God using daily humiliation as their service would permit, did sing a psalm after and immediately before their sallying forth. With which practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever upon the singing of the psalm, after which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, crying, "They come, they come," as though the wrath of God and the rage of all the creatures had been breaking out upon them.
Read full note →
The Lord set ambushments.] Furor hostibus a Deo immissus ut in se invicem efferati saevire non desisterent, donec mutuis caedibus sese prostravissent. The wrath of God wrought their ruin, as by an ambush, unexpectedly and irresistibly. Some understand this ambush of the holy angels, sent suddenly in upon them to slay them; whereupon they mistaking the matter, and supposing it had been their own companions, flew upon them, and so sheathed their swords in one another’s bowels.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain When they began to sing and to praise; so…
When they began to sing and to praise; so acceptable are the fervent prayers of God’s people to God, and so terrible to their enemies.
Ambushments, or, liers in wait; either,
Read full note →
1. The holy angels, who appeared in the shape of men, and possibly put on the appearances and visages of Moabites or Ammonites, and in that shape slew the rest, who supposing this slaughter to be done by a part of their own army, fell upon them, and so broke forth into mutual slaughters. Or,
2. God raised jealousies and animosities amongst themselves, which by degrees broke forth first into secret ambushments, which one party laid for another, and then into open hostilities and outrages to their utter destruction. So vain are all men’s attempts against God, who needs none to destroy his enemies but themselves, and their own mistakes and passions, which he can when he pleaseth arm against them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And when they began to sing and to praise,....…
And when they began to sing and to praise,.... They sung more or less all the way they went, from the time they set out, but when they came nearer the enemy, they sung louder and louder:
the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which came against Judah; some take them to be their own ambushments, which they set for the destruction of Judah; but the Lord turned them against their own confederates, mistaking them for Jews; so the Vulgate Latin version,
Read full note →
"the Lord turned their ambushments against themselves;''or rather these were angels, who appeared in the form of the Edomites, and so fell upon the Ammonites and Moabites:
and they were smitten; by them, many of them were destroyed; hence it follows,
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain To sing - So acceptable are the fervent prayers…
To sing - So acceptable are the fervent prayers of God's people to God, and so terrible to their enemies. Ambushments - Or, liers in wait, either
1. the holy angels, who appeared in the shape of men, and possibly put on the appearances and visages of the Moabites or Ammonites, and in that shape slew the rest, who supposing this slaughter to be done by a part of their own army, fell upon them, and so broke forth into mutual slaughters. Or,
Read full note →
2. God raised jealousies and animosities among themselves, which broke forth, first into secret ambushments, which one party laid for another, and then into open hostilities to their utter destruction. So vain are all mens attempts against God, who needs none to destroy his enemies but themselves, and their own mistakes, and passions, which he can, when he pleaseth, arm against them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. The Lord set ambushments] "The WORD of…
Verse 22. The Lord set ambushments] "The WORD of the Lord placed snares among the children of Ammon and Moab; and the inhabitants of the mountain of Gibla, who came to fight with Judah; and they were broken to pieces:" so the Targum.
Houbigant translates the place thus: "The Lord set against the children of Ammon and Moab ambushments of those who came from Mount Seir against Judah; and the children of Ammon and Moab were smitten: but they afterwards rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and utterly destroyed them; who being destroyed, they rose up one against another, and mutually destroyed each other." This is probably the meaning of these verses. Calmet's version is not very different.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ch 20:22. When they began to sing and to…
2Ch 20:22. When they began to sing and to praise — So acceptable are the fervent prayers and praises of God’s people to him, and so terrible to their enemies! The Lord set ambushments — Hebrew, מארבים, mearebim, insidiantes, persons lying in wait, or plotting, and laying snares. The meaning seems to be, as appears from the next verse, that God raised jealousies and animosities among their enemies themselves, which by degrees broke forth, first into secret plots, snares, and ambushments, which one party contrived and laid for another, against which they had conceived some grudge; and then into a general confusion, and open hostilities and outrages, to the destruction of one another throughout the whole army. So vain are all men’s attempts against God, who needs none to destroy his enemies but themselves, and their own mistakes and passions, which he can, when he pleases, arm against them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Lord set ambushments - These liers in wait…
The Lord set ambushments - These liers in wait have been regarded as angels employed by God to confuse the host and cause its destruction, so that the Moabites and Ammonites first united to destroy the Edomites, and then turned upon each other.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Ambushments, placed by the Moabites, (M.) and Ammonites, (H.)…
Ambushments, placed by the Moabites, (M.) and Ammonites, (H.) against Juda. Some detachments of Mount Seir, perhaps, coming suddenly on them, were taken for foes, and slaughtered. H.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES. (Ch2 20:22-30)
THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES. (Ch2 20:22-30)
when they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir--Some think that this was done by angels in human form, whose sudden appearance diffused an uncontrollable panic. Others entertain the more probable opinion that, in the camp of this vast horde, composed of different tribes, jealousies and animosities had sprung up, which led to widespread dissensions and fierce feuds, in which they drew the sword against each other. The consequence was, that as the mutual strife commenced when the Hebrew procession set out from Jerusalem, the work of destruction was completed before Jehoshaphat and his people arrived at the battlefield. Thus easy is it for God to make the wrath of man to praise Him, to confound the counsels of His enemies and employ their own passions in defeating the machinations they have devised for the overthrow of His Church and people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 22. The Lord set ambushments against… Ammon, Moab… mount…
22. The Lord set ambushments against… Ammon, Moab… mount Seir — The word rendered ambushments is מארבים, liers in wait. Compare Jdg_9:29. A measure of uncertainty must ever rest upon the question, Who were these liers in wait? They were not men of Judah, for these were not to fight. 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:17. Nor were they portions of the invading army, who, by mistake, fell to fighting one another, for such could not be properly called liers in wait. Many expositors, ancient and modern, think that they were angels sent by God to confuse and overthrow the enemies of his people. But it would be very strange for the sacred writer to call angels “liers in wait.” Had he meant angels he would most likely have said so. More probably the ambush was composed of a band of daring marauders, not belonging to either army, who, greedy for spoil, attacked the combined army unexpectedly and with such fury as to put them all in confusion, and “every man’s sword was turned against his fellow.” Compare Jdg_7:22, and 1Sa_14:20. Perhaps these marauders themselves perished in the general fray. In all this the sacred writer saw the hand of Jehovah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. the Lord set ambushments] R.V. the LORD set…
22. the Lord set ambushments] R.V. the LORD set liers in wait. All that is meant by this is that the Lord suggested to Jehoshaphat the plan of setting an ambush; cp. Jos_8:2 (where it is said that the Lord suggested the same plan to Joshua). Jehoshaphat himself marched with the bulk of his forces, but the flower of the Judæan army was probably disposed in ambush. G. A. Smith (Hist. Geography, p. 272) points out that the country between En-gedi and Tekoa is well suited for attack by surprise.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (22) And when they began.—Literally, And at the. time…
(22) And when they began.—Literally, And at the. time when they began with shouting and praise. (Comp. Deu_16:9, to begin with.) They had now reached the neighbourhood of the enemy; and their joyful pæan was the signal for a Divine interposition. (Comp. Jos_6:16; Jos_6:20, and Psa_46:6.)
The Lord set ambushments.—Jehovah placed liers in wait (Jdg_9:25). (nâthan here is equivalent in meaning to sâm there.)
Read full note →
Come against.—Come into, i.e., invade (2Ch_20:10).
They were smitten.—Right, according to the ordinary usage. (See 1Ch_19:16; 1Ch_19:19, “put to the worse.”) This statement anticipates what follows. The ancient translators felt a difficulty here, as is evident from their versions. Thus the LXX. has, “The Lord made the sons of Ammon to war upon Moab and Mount Seir, who came out against Judah; and they were routed.” The Vulg., “The Lord turned their ambushment against themselves, viz., that of the sons of Amnion and Moab and Mount Seir, who had gone forth to fight against Judah, and they were smitten.”
The Syriac (and Arabic) travesty 2Ch_20:21 and the first clause of 2Ch_20:22 thus: “And he stood in the middle of the people, and said, Come, let us give thanks unto the Lord, and let us laud the splendour of his holiness, when he goeth out before our hosts, and maketh war for us with our foes: and be saying, Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his goodness endureth for ever. The hills began praising, and the mountains began rejoicing.”They then continue as in 2Ch_20:24, omitting “The Lord set ambushments . . . they were smitten.”
The self-destruction of the allied hordes was undoubtedly providential, but it need not have been miraculous. How was it brought about? The answer depends on the meaning of the term “liers in wait.” Were angels meant, as some have thought (Ewald’s böser Geister), a more appropriate and less ambiguous term would have been employed to express their agency. Nor is it likely that a Judean ambuscade is thus obscurely mentioned without any further reference or explanation: indeed it is evident from 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:17; 2Ch_20:24, that the part of the Judeans was that of mere spectators of an accomplished fact. Nor, finally, must we suppose that “the waylaying was done by a section of the confederates themselves, probably certain of the Maonites.”
The truth appears to be that some portion of the unwieldy and straggling host was suddenly attacked by a lurking band of Bedawi freebooters. In the providence of God the partial confusion which thus originated speedily became a universal panic. The Ammonites and Moabites instantly suspected their less civilised allies, the Maonites, of treachery, and fell upon them in a frenzy of revenge; after which, maddened by slaughter and mutual suspicion, and the memory of ancient feuds, they turned their reeking swords against each other, and the strife only ended with the self-annihilation of the allies. The occurrence is thus to some extent parallel with the self-destruction of the Midianite hordes, when thrown into confusion by the stratagem of Gideon (Jdg_7:22).
The marvellous result, marvellously predicted, was brought to pass by a perfectly natural sequence of events, just as was Elisha’s prophecy of plenty to famine-stricken Samaria, though at the time when it was uttered fulfilment seemed impossible, unless the Lord were to “make windows in heaven,” and pour down supplies from thence by a visible miracle. In neither case was the course of events foreseen by the prophet, but only their issue. (See 2 Kings 7)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Set ambushments. The Hebrew is m tn; i.e. "set…
Set ambushments. The Hebrew is m tn; i.e. "set persons lying in wait," or "in ambush" (piel part. plur. of bra;). So Jud_1:9:25, but kal participle with apparently future equivalent meaning occurs eighteen times in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Lamentations. Who the persons were, supernatural or not, or what their mode of operation, is not told, and is not plain. The effects are quite plain that first the two confederates, Moab and Ammon, thought they saw reason to fall on them "of Mount Seir," and secondly, having this done, to fall on one another to the end of mutual extermination. They were smitten. The marginal, "they smote one another," may be better, but it is not at all necessary, the meaning being that collectively they became the smitten instead of the smiters!
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 to sing and to praise
to sing and to praise
They were singing to Yahweh. AT: "to sing and to praise Yahweh" (See: Ellipsis)
Read full note →
Yahweh set men
This means that Yahweh caused some of the enemy soldiers to ambush other enemy soldiers. AT: "Yahweh set some enemy soldiers" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
ambush
a surprise attack
Mount Seir
Translate the name of this place the same as in 2 Chronicles 20:10. (See: How to Translate Names)
They were defeated
This can be stated in active form. AT: "They defeated them" or "They defeated those they had ambushed" (See: Active or Passive)
to completely kill them and destroy them
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The second intensifies the first. AT: "to completely annihilate them" (See: Doublet)
When they had finished with
This refers to after they had destroyed them. AT: "When they had finished killing" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Ammon
Moab
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.