20:22 When they began to shout and praise, the Lord suddenly attacked 2 the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir 3 who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.
1 tn Heb “at that time.”
2 tn Heb “set ambushers against.” This is probably idiomatic here for launching a surprise attack.
3 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir.”
4 tc Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Jehoram was surrounded and launched a victorious nighttime counterattack. Yet v. 10 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֹתוֹ [’oto, “him”] instead of just אֶת [’et]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. See also 2 Kgs 8:21.