2 Chronicles 20:12 (LSB)

Passage

O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are on You.”

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 20:10 So now, behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them),

2 Chronicles 20:11 and behold, they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have caused us to possess.

2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are on You.”

2 Chronicles 20:13 Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

2 Chronicles 20:14 Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of Yahweh came 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;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "judge", "powerless", "before", "great", "multitude", "coming", "against", and "should". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "judge" and "powerless", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "and behold they are rewarding us by..." into verse 13's "Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh...", so "judge" and "powerless" 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 "judge" and "powerless" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.