20:22 When they began to shout and praise, the Lord suddenly attacked 1 the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir 2 who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 20:23 The Ammonites and Moabites attacked the men from Mount Seir 3 and annihilated them. 4 When they had finished off the men 5 of Seir, they attacked and destroyed one another. 6 20:24 When the men of Judah 7 arrived at the observation post overlooking the desert and looked at 8 the huge army, they saw dead bodies on the ground; there were no survivors! 20:25 Jehoshaphat and his men 9 went to gather the plunder; they found a huge amount of supplies, clothing 10 and valuable items. They carried away everything they could. 11 There was so much plunder, it took them three days to haul it off. 12
1 tn Heb “set ambushers against.” This is probably idiomatic here for launching a surprise attack.
2 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir.”
3 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the residents of Mount Seir.”
4 tn Heb “to annihilate and to destroy.”
5 tn Heb “residents.”
6 tn Heb “they helped, each one his fellow, for destruction.” The verb עָזַר (’azar), traditionally understood as the well-attested verb meaning “to help,” is an odd fit in this context. It is possible that it is from a homonymic root, perhaps meaning to “attack.” This root is attested in Ugaritic in a nominal form meaning “young man, warrior, hero.” For a discussion of the proposed root, see HALOT 811 s.v. II עזר.
7 tn Heb “Judah.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy for the men of Judah.
8 tn Heb “turned toward.”
9 tn Or “army.”
10 tc The MT reads פְגָרִים (fÿgarim, “corpses”), but this seems odd among a list of plunder. A few medieval Hebrew
11 tn Heb “and they snatched away for themselves so that there was no carrying away.”
12 tn Heb “and they were three days looting the plunder for it was great.”