2 Chronicles 20:6-12

20:6 He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, ¹  you are the God who lives in heaven ²  and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you. 20:7 Our God, you drove out ³  the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession ⁴  to the descendants of your friend ⁵  Abraham. 20:8 They settled down in it and built in it a temple ⁶  to honor you, ⁷  saying, 20:9 ‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, ⁸  judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. ⁹  We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will ¹⁰  hear and deliver us.’ 20:10 Now the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir are coming! ¹¹  When Israel came from the land of Egypt, you did not allow them to invade these lands. ¹²  They bypassed them and did not destroy them. 20:11 Look how they are repaying us! They come to drive us out of our allotted land which you assigned to us! 20:12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don’t know what we should do; we look to you for help.” ¹³ 

[20:6]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 33).

[20:6]  ² tn Heb “are you not God in heaven?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “yes,” resulting in the positive statement “you are the God who lives in heaven” employed in the translation.

[20:7]  ³ tn Heb “did you not drive out?” This is another rhetorical question which expects a positive response; see the note on the word “heaven” in the previous verse.

[20:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “permanently.”

[20:7]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “your covenantal partner.” See Isa 41:8.

[20:8]  ⁶ tn Or “sanctuary.”

[20:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “for your name.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor (thus the translation here, “to honor you”).

[20:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “sword.”

[20:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “for your name is in this house.” The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name. In this case the temple is referred to as a “house” where the Lord himself can reside.

[20:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “so that you may.”

[20:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “now, look, the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir.”

[20:10]  ¹² tn Heb “whom you did not allow Israel to enter when they came from the land of Egypt.”

[20:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “for [or “indeed”] upon you are our eyes.”