Passage

2 Chronicles 20.14

Book: 2 Chronicles · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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 Jehovah, 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, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly;

and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat: Thus saith Jehovah unto you, Fear not ye, neither be 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 ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. (2 Chronicles 20:12-16, ASV)

WEB

12. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 13. All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

14. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly;

and he said, “Listen, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Yahweh says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed because of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16. Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. (2 Chronicles 20:12-16, WEB)

KJV

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;

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. ^{cliff: Heb. ascent} ^{brook: or, valley} (2 Chronicles 20:12-16, KJV)

YLT

12. 'O our God, dost Thou not execute judgment upon them? for there is no power in us before this great multitude that hath come against us, and we know not what we do, but on Thee [are] our eyes.' 13. And all Judah are standing before Jehovah, also their infants, their wives, and their sons.

14. And upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, hath the Spirit of Jehovah been, in the midst of the assembly,

and he saith, 'Attend, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and O king Jehoshaphat, Thus said Jehovah to you, Ye fear not, nor are afraid of the face of this great multitude, for not for you [is] the battle, but for God. 16. To-morrow, go ye down against them, lo, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz, and ye have found them in the end of the valley, the front of the wilderness of Jeruel. (2 Chronicles 20:12-16, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: narrator (the Chronicler); Jahaziel's oracle follows in verses 15-17
Audience: the restored community in the Persian province of Yehud, rebuilding around temple and priesthood with no king of their own
Location: the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, before the new court, where all Judah stood with their wives and children (20:5, 13)
Time period: the invasion by Moab, Ammon and their allies in the reign of Jehoshaphat (c. 872-848 BC), narrated by a writer working after the return from Babylon, commonly placed c. 400 BC

Theological reading

Jehoshaphat has just ended his prayer with an admission, "neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee" (verse 12). The answer comes not through a known prophet but through a Levite singer, Jahaziel, "of the sons of Asaph," on whom "came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly." His long genealogy establishes him as a legitimate member of the musicians David appointed, and 1 Chronicles 25:1 had already described the sons of Asaph as those "who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals." For the Chronicler, Levitical worship and prophecy are not separate offices in tension.

The oracle that follows (verses 15-17) is "the battle is not yours, but God's," and its key line echoes Moses at the Red Sea: "stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah" (verse 17; Exodus 14:13). The people's part is to go out and stand, and the next morning the singers go ahead of the army (verse 21). The Spirit's coming answers a prayer that admitted helplessness.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H7307 - ruach, ruach, Strong's H7307
H1121 - ben, ben, Strong's H1121
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.