2 Chronicles 25:8

8 But if you go [with them], do it! Be strong for battle! [But] God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to make one stumble.^[a]

2 Chronicles 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:8

But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle
An ironical expression; if thou wilt not be advised, take them with thee, and try what thou canst do; exert all thy courage, and use thy military skill, and mark the issue:

God shall make thee fall before the enemy;
notwithstanding the number of thy troops, and those of thy auxiliaries; though some take them to be spoken seriously, and read the words, "but go thou"; that is, alone, without the hired troops, and fight boldly and courageously; or otherwise "God shall make thee fall"

for God hath power to help and to cast down;
to help with a few, and to cast down with many; to help without the hired Israelites, and to cast down with them.

2 Chronicles 25:8 In-Context

6 Then for 7,500 pounds of silver he hired 100,000 brave warriors from Israel.

7 However, a man of God came to him and said, "King, do not let Israel's army go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel-all the Ephraimites.

8 But if you go [with them], do it! Be strong for battle! [But] God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to make one stumble.

9 Then Amaziah said to the man of God, "What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave to Israel's division?" The man of God replied, "The Lord is able to give you much more than this."

10 So Amaziah released the division that came to him from Ephraim to go home. But they got very angry with Judah and returned home in a fierce rage.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Kg 18:14-15; Ps 64:7-8