2 Chronicles 14-16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 14
Asa’s Initial Reforms. 1 (A)Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord, his God. 2 He removed the illicit altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the asherahs. 3 He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to observe the law and the commandment. 4 He removed the high places and incense stands from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom had peace. 5 He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had peace and no war was waged against him during these years, because the Lord had given him rest. 6 He said to Judah: “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, for we have sought the Lord, our God; we sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
The Ethiopian Invasion.[a] 7 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand shield- and lance-bearers from Judah, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand who carried bucklers and were archers, all of them valiant warriors. 8 Zerah the Ethiopian advanced against them with a force of one million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.(B) 9 Asa went out to meet him and they drew up for battle in the valley of Zephathah, near Mareshah. 10 Asa called upon the Lord, his God: “Lord, there is none like you to help the powerless against the strong. Help us, Lord, our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. You are the Lord, our God; do not let men prevail against you.”(C) 11 And so the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 12 Asa and those with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until there were no survivors, for they were crushed before the Lord and his army, which carried away enormous spoils. 13 Then the Judahites conquered all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them; they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 14 They also attacked the tents of the cattle-herders and carried off a great number of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
Chapter 15
Further Reforms. 1 The spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of Oded. 2 He went forth to meet Asa and said to him: “Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him he will be found; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.(D) 3 For a long time Israel was without a true God, without a priest-teacher, without instruction, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.(E) 5 At that time there was no peace for anyone to go or come; rather, there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands. 6 Nation crushed nation and city crushed city,(F) for God overwhelmed them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not slack off, for there shall be a reward for what you do.”(G)
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the Lord which was before the vestibule of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were resident with them; for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord, his God, was with him. 10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month[b] of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, 11 and sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. 12 (H)They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul; 13 and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, from least to greatest, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire. The Lord was found by them,(I) and gave them rest on every side.
16 (J)He also deposed Maacah, the mother[c] of King Asa, from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene object for Asherah; Asa cut down this object, smashed it, and burnt it in the Wadi Kidron. 17 The high places did not disappear from Israel, yet Asa’s heart was undivided as long as he lived. 18 He brought into the house of God his father’s and his own votive offerings: silver, gold, and vessels. 19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
Chapter 16
Asa’s Infidelity. 1 (K)In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to block all movement for Asa, king of Judah. 2 Asa then brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the house of the king and sent them to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus. He said: 3 “There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, besides all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, putting an end to his work. 6 Then King Asa commandeered all Judah and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord, your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped[d] your power. 8 (L)Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army, with great numbers of chariots and horses? And yet, because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power. 9 The eyes of the Lord roam over the whole earth,(M) to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly. You have acted foolishly in this matter, for from now on you will have wars.” 10 But Asa became angry with the seer and imprisoned him in the stocks, so greatly was he enraged at him over this. Asa also oppressed some of his people at this time.
11 (N)Now the acts of Asa, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted disease in his feet; it became worse, but even with this disease he did not seek the Lord, only physicians. 13 Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, after laying him on a couch that was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment; and they kindled a huge fire for him.
Footnotes
- 14:7–14 This Ethiopian invasion of Judah is not mentioned in 1 Kings. The account is likely a legend intended to show the pious King Asa being rewarded with divine assistance. It could, however, reflect an incursion by nomads from the Negeb in Asa’s time.
- 15:10–12 With this description of a covenant ceremony in “the third month” of a year beginning in the spring, the Chronicler provides a basis for the later understanding of the ancient Jewish spring feast of Weeks as a commemoration of the covenant on Mount Sinai; see Ex 19:1–3; Lv 23:16 and note on Lv 23:16–21. In the Greek period the feast came to be called Pentecost, from the Greek word for “fifty,” i.e., fifty days or seven weeks after Passover. The Chronicler’s presentation here has also influenced the celebration of Christian Pentecost as the “birthday of the Church”; cf. Acts 2.
- 15:16 Mother: see note on 1 Kgs 15:10.
- 16:7 The king of Aram has escaped: the Lucianic recension of the Septuagint reads, “the king of Israel escaped.” This may well be the original reading, since according to the story Asa hired the king of Aram as an ally against Israel.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.