2 Chronicles 20:1

CHAPTER XX

The Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, invade Judah, 1, 2.

Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast, and gathers the people together

to seek the Lord, 3, 4.

His prayer to God, 5-12.

Great and small, male and female, seek the Lord, 13.

Jahaziel predicts the downfall of their enemies, 14-17.

The king, the Levites, and the people take courage; praise and

magnify God; and go forth to meet their enemies, 18-21.

The enemies are confounded, and destroy each other, 22-24.

The men of Judah take the spoil, praise the Lord, and return

with joy to Jerusalem, 25-28.

The fear of the Lord falls upon all their enemies round about;

and the land has rest, 29, 30.

Transactions and character of Jehoshaphat, 31-34.

He joins with Ahaziah, king of Israel, in building a fleet of

ships to go to Tarshish, but they are wrecked at Ezion-geber,

35-37.

NOTES ON CHAP. XX

Verse 2 Chronicles 20:1. Children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites] Here there must be a mistake; surely the Ammonites are the same as the children of Ammon. Our translators have falsified the text by inserting the words "other beside," which have nothing properly to represent them in the Hebrew. Literally translated, the words are: "And it happened after this, the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites:" and thus the Vulgate. The Syriac, which the Arabic follows, has felt the difficulty, and translated, Came together with warlike men to fight, c. The Septuagint have given it another turn: Και μετ' αυτων εκ των Μιναιων, And with them people of the Minaites which were a people of Arabia Felix near the Red Sea. The Targum has ועמהון מן אדומאי Ve-immehon min Edomaey, "And with them some of the Edomites." This is very likely to be the true reading, as we find from 2 Chronicles 20:10; 2 Chronicles 20:22-14, that they procured men from Mount Seir; and these were the Idumeans or Edomites. We should, in my opinion, read the text thus: The children of Moab, and the children of common, and with them some of the Edomites.