2 Chronicles 20:22 (LSB)

Passage

When they began singing for joy and praising, Yahweh set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were defeated.

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 20:20 And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, establish your faith in Yahweh your God and you will be established. Establish your faith in His prophets and succeed.”

2 Chronicles 20:21 When he had taken counsel with the people, he caused those who sang to Yahweh and those who praised Him to stand in holy attire, as they went out before the army, saying, “Give thanks to Yahweh, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

2 Chronicles 20:22 When they began singing for joy and praising, Yahweh set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were defeated.

2 Chronicles 20:23 Indeed, the sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to devote them to destruction and to utterly eradicate them; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to bring one another to ruin.

2 Chronicles 20:24 Now Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, and they turned toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses fallen on the ground, and no one had escaped.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "began", "singing", "praising", "yahweh", "ambushes", "against", "sons", and "ammon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "began" and "singing", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 21's "When he had taken counsel with the..." into verse 23's "Indeed the sons of Ammon and Moab...", so "began" and "singing" 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 "began" and "singing" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.