Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 20:22
The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the moment Judah’s appointed singers advance before the host to praise, as the coalition of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir approaches. Jehoshaphat has organized the procession, and the text notes the immediate divine response at the start of their shouts.
The words — מְאָרְבִים (me'arevim) literally means "ambushers" or "ambush positions," while נָתַן (natan) translates as "he set" or "he placed." The phrase states that Yahweh positioned an ambush against the invading armies at the precise moment the singers began.
The thread — This motif of God turning enemy forces against themselves appears in Judges 7:22 and 1 Samuel 14:20, where confusion causes camps to fight one another. Ezekiel 38:21 later repeats the image of every man’s sword rising against his ally in divine judgment.
Why it lands — The text reports that defeat followed the initiation of praise, without attaching conditions or promises to the singers' actions. It asks the reader to note the chronological sequence of worship and intervention, leaving the mechanism of divine action to the stated fact rather than human control.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 14:20 Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.
- Ezekiel 38:21 And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.
- Judges 7:22 And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
- 2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
- Isaiah 19:2 “So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
- Psalms 35:5 May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
- 2 Chronicles 13:13 Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to ambush from the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them.
- 2 Chronicles 20:10 And now, here are the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. So Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them.
- 1 Samuel 14:16 Now when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in Benjamin looked and saw the troops melting away and scattering in every direction,