2 Chronicles 20:8 (YLT)

Passage

and they dwell in it, and build to Thee in it a sanctuary for Thy name, saying,

Nearby Context

2 Chronicles 20:6 and saith, `O Jehovah, God of our fathers, art not Thou--God in the heavens? yea, Thou art ruling over all kingdoms of the nations, and in Thy hand <FI>is<Fi> power and might, and there is none with Thee to station himself.

2 Chronicles 20:7 `Art not Thou our God? Thou hast dispossessed the inhabitants of this land from before Thy people Israel, and dost give it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend to the age,

2 Chronicles 20:8 and they dwell in it, and build to Thee in it a sanctuary for Thy name, saying,

2 Chronicles 20:9 If evil doth come upon us--sword, judgment, and pestilence, and famine--we stand before this house, and before Thee, for Thy name <FI>is<Fi> in this house, and cry unto Thee out of our distress, and Thou dost hear and save.

2 Chronicles 20:10 `And now, lo, sons of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, whom Thou didst not grant to Israel to go in against in their coming out of the land of Egypt, for they turned aside from off them and destroyed them not,

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Art not Thou our God Thou hast..." into verse 9's "If evil doth come upon us--sword judgment...", so "dwell" and "build" 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 "dwell" and "build" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.