2 Chronicles 20:8 (ASV)

Passage

And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 20:6 and he said, O Jehovah, the God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and art not thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee.

2 Chronicles 20:7 Didst not thou, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

2 Chronicles 20:8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

2 Chronicles 20:9 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.

2 Chronicles 20:10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and destroyed them not;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "dwelt", "therein", "built", "thee", "sanctuary", "name", and "saying". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "dwelt" and "therein", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Didst not thou O our God drive..." into verse 9's "If evil come upon us the sword...", so "dwelt" and "therein" belong inside that flow. In 2 Chronicles context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "dwelt" and "therein" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.