2 Chronicles 20:9

Good News Translation

that if any disaster struck them to punish them—a war, an epidemic, or a famine—then they could come and stand in front of this Temple where you are worshiped. They could pray to you in their trouble, and you would hear them and rescue them.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“If disaster comes on us—sword or judgment, pestilence or famine—we will stand before this temple and before you, for your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you because of our distress, and you will hear and deliver.”

Hebrew Names Version
If evil come on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house,) and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.

King James Version
If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

English Standard Version
‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.'

New Century Version
‘If trouble comes upon us, or war, punishment, sickness, or hunger, we will stand before you and before this Temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. We will cry out to you when we are in trouble. Then you will hear and save us.'

New English Translation
‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will hear and deliver us.'

Amplified Bible
'If evil comes on us, or the sword of judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your Name and Your Presence is in this house) and we will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.'

New American Standard Bible
'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, or judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house), and cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.'

World English Bible
If evil come on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house,) and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If euill come vpon vs, as the sworde of iudgement, or pestilence, or famine, we will stande before this house & in thy presence (for thy name is in this house) and will crie vnto thee in our tribulation, and thou wilt heare and helpe.

Legacy Standard Bible
‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.'

Berean Standard Bible
'If disaster comes upon us-whether sword or judgment, plague or famine-we will stand before this temple and before You, for Your Name is in this temple. We will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and deliver us.'

Contemporary English Version
They believed that whenever this land is struck by war or disease or famine, your people can pray to you at the temple, and you will hear their prayer and save them.

Complete Jewish Bible
‘If calamity strikes us, such as war, judgment, disease or famine, we will stand before this house — that is, before you, since your name is in this house — and cry to you in our distress; and you will hear us and rescue us.'

Darby Translation
If evil come upon us, sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, and we stand before this house and before thee—for thy name is in this house—and cry unto thee in our distress, then thou wilt hear and save.

Easy-to-Read Version
They said, ‘If trouble comes to us—the sword, punishment, sicknesses, or famine—we will stand in front of this Temple and in front of you. Your name is on this Temple. We will shout to you when we are in trouble. Then you will hear and save us.'

George Lamsa Translation
Now, because there is a sanctuary among us, no evil shall come upon us, nor the sword nor judgment nor pestilence nor famine; and we shall come and stand before this house and before thee (for thy name has been invoked in this house), and we will pray before thee in this house, and thou wilt hear our prayer and save us.

Lexham English Bible
‘If disaster, a sword, punishment, disease, or famine come upon us, we shall stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you out of our trouble, then you will hear and save us.'

Literal Translation
If evil shall come upon us, whether sword, judgment, or pestilence and famine, we shall stand before this house and before You, for Your name is in this house, and shall cry to You out of our distress, and You shall hear andsave.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf there come eny plage, swerde, iudgmet, pestilence, or derth vpon vs, we wyll stonde before this house euen before the (for thy name is in this house) and wyll crye vnto the in oure trouble, and thou shalt heare, and shalt saue vs.

American Standard Version
If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save.

Bible in Basic English
If evil comes on us, the sword, or punishment, or disease, or need of food, we will come to this house and to you, (for your name is in this house,) crying to you in our trouble, and you will give us salvation in answer to our cry.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If euyll come vpon vs, as the sword of iudgement, pestilence or hunger: then, if we stande before this house in thy presence (for thy name is in this house) and crye vnto thee in our tribulation, heare thou, and helpe.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before Thee--for Thy name is in this house--and cry unto Thee in our affliction, and Thou wilt hear and save.

King James Version (1611)
If, when euill commeth vpon vs, as the sword, iudgement, or pestilence, or famine, wee stand before this house, and in thy presence (for thy Name is in this house) and cry vnto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt heare & helpe.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If there should come upon us evils, sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, (for thy name is upon this house,)and we will cry to thee because of the affliction, and thou shalt hear, and deliver.

English Revised Version
If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If yuelis comen on vs, the swerd of doom, pestilence, and hungur, we schulen stonde bifor this hows withouten ende in thi siyt, in which hows thi name is clepid, and we schulen crie to thee in oure tribulaciouns; and thou schalt here vs, and schalt make vs saaf.

Update Bible Version
If evil comes on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house,) and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.

Webster's Bible Translation
If, [when] evil cometh upon us, [as] the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name [is] in this house,) and cry to thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

New King James Version
"If disaster comes upon us--sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine--we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.'

New Living Translation
They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.'

New Life Bible
‘If what is bad comes upon us, fighting, hard times, disease, or no food, we will stand in front of this house. And we will stand before You, (for Your name is in this house). We will cry to You in our trouble. And You will hear and take us out of trouble.'

New Revised Standard
‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If there come upon us calamity, the sword of judgment or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before thee, for, thy Name, is in this house, - that we may make outcry unto thee out of our distress, that thou mayest hear and save.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If evils fall upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand in thy presence before this house, in which thy name is called upon: and we will cry to thee in our afflictions, and thou wilt hear, and save us.

Revised Standard Version
'If evil comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, for thy name is in this house, and cry to thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save.'

Young's Literal Translation
If evil doth come upon us -- sword, judgment, and pestilence, and famine -- we stand before this house, and before Thee, for Thy name [is] in this house, and cry unto Thee out of our distress, and Thou dost hear and save.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.'

Contextual Overview

¹ Some time later the armies of Moab and Ammon, together with their allies, the Meunites, invaded Judah. ² Some messengers came and announced to King Jehoshaphat: "A large army from Edom has come from the other side of the Dead Sea to attack you. They have already captured Hazazon Tamar." (This is another name for Engedi.) ³ Jehoshaphat was frightened and prayed to the Lord for guidance. Then he gave orders for a fast to be observed throughout the country. ⁴ From every city of Judah people hurried to Jerusalem to ask the Lord for guidance, ⁵ and they and the people of Jerusalem gathered in the new courtyard of the Temple. King Jehoshaphat went and stood before them ⁶ and prayed aloud, "O Lord God of our ancestors, you rule in heaven over all the nations of the world. You are powerful and mighty, and no one can oppose you. ⁷ You are our God. When your people Israel moved into this land, you drove out the people who were living here and gave the land to the descendants of Abraham, your friend, to be theirs forever. ⁸ They have lived here and have built a temple to honor you, knowing ⁹ that if any disaster struck them to punish them—a war, an epidemic, or a famine—then they could come and stand in front of this Temple where you are worshiped. They could pray to you in their trouble, and you would hear them and rescue them. ¹⁰ "Now the people of Ammon, Moab, and Edom have attacked us. When our ancestors came out of Egypt, you did not allow them to enter those lands, so our ancestors went around them and did not destroy them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

when evil: 2 Chronicles 6:28-30, 1 Kings 8:33, 1 Kings 8:37

and in thy presence: Matthew 18:20

thy name: 2 Chronicles 6:20, Exodus 20:24, Exodus 23:21

is in this house: Several manuscripts with the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate, read nikra, "is invoked." "Thy name is invoked in this house.

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 8:30 - when they shall Ezra 10:1 - before the house Psalms 20:2 - from Psalms 30:11 - turned Ezekiel 14:19 - if I

Cross-References

Genesis 12:18
Then the king sent for Abram and asked him, "What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Genesis 20:10
Why did you do it?"

Genesis 20:11
Abraham answered, "I thought that there would be no one here who has reverence for God and that they would kill me to get my wife.

Genesis 26:10
"What have you done to us?" Abimelech said. "One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt."

Genesis 34:7
just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard about it, they were shocked and furious that Shechem had done such a thing and had insulted the people of Israel by raping Jacob's daughter.

Genesis 38:24
About three months later someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant." Judah ordered, "Take her out and burn her to death."

Genesis 39:9
I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?"

Exodus 32:21
He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?"

Exodus 32:35
So the Lord sent a disease on the people, because they had caused Aaron to make the gold bull-calf.

Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with the wife of an Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If when evil cometh upon us,.... Any calamity,

as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, God's four sore judgments, if by "judgment" is meant wild beasts:

we stand before this house; in the court before the holy place, and holy of holies:

and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house; called upon in it, and it was called by his name, and in which he dwelt:

and cry unto thee in our affliction; as Solomon prayed at the dedication of it:

then thou wilt hear and help; as the Lord promised, see 1 Kings 8:33.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jehoshaphat’s appeal is threefold:

(1) to God omnipotent 2 Chronicles 20:6;

(2) to “our God;”

(3) the God especially “of this house” the temple.

2 Chronicles 20:7

Abraham thy friend - Historically, this is the first use of this remarkable expression, afterward repeated (marginal references). The ground of the expression is to be found principally in Genesis 18:23-33, where Abraham spoke with God as a man with his friend (compare Exodus 33:11).

2 Chronicles 20:8, 2 Chronicles 20:9

The appeal recalls Solomon’s prayer (marginal references), which God had formally accepted by sending down fire from heaven to consume the accompanying offering.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Chronicles 20:9. For thy name is in this house — "Thy Majesty is in this house." Several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, add נקרא nikra, "is invoked;" Thy name is invoked in this house - here thou dwellest, and here thou art worshipped.