2 Chronicles 20:8 (WEB)

Passage

They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 20:6 and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you.

2 Chronicles 20:7 Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham your friend forever?

2 Chronicles 20:8 They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,

2 Chronicles 20:9 ‘If evil comes on us—the sword, judgment, 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.’

2 Chronicles 20:10 Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them;

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Didn t you our God drive out..." into verse 9's "If evil comes on us the sword...", so "lived" and "built" 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 "lived" and "built" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.