3 So when we could stand it no longer,^(A) we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens.^{(B) 2} We sent Timothy,^(C) who is our brother and co-worker^(D) in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ,^(E) to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ³ so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.^(F) For you know quite well that we are destined for them.^{(G) 4} In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.^{(H) 5} For this reason, when I could stand it no longer,^(I) I sent to find out about your faith.^(J) I was afraid that in some way the tempter^(K) had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.^(L)

Timothy’s Encouraging Report

⁶ But Timothy^(M) has just now come to us from you^(N) and has brought good news about your faith and love.^(O) He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.^{(P) 7} Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. ⁸ For now we really live, since you are standing firm^(Q) in the Lord. ⁹ How can we thank God enough for you^(R) in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?^{(S) 10} Night and day we pray^(T) most earnestly that we may see you again^(U) and supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father^(V) himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other^(W) and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless^(X) and holy in the presence of our God and Father^(Y) when our Lord Jesus comes^(Z) with all his holy ones.^(AA)

Psalm 111^[a]

Asa’s Reform^(A)

15 The Spirit of God came on^(B) Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you^(C) when you are with him.^(D) If you seek^(E) him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.^{(F) 3} For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach^(G) and without the law.^{(H) 4} But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him,^(I) and he was found by them. ⁵ In those days it was not safe to travel about,^(J) for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. ⁶ One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another,^(K) because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong^(L) and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”^(M)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of^[a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols^(N) from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured^(O) in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar^(P) of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

⁹ Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers^(Q) had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰ They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month^(R) of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder^(S) they had brought back. ¹² They entered into a covenant^(T) to seek the Lord,^(U) the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. ¹³ All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death,^(V) whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God^(W) eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest^(X) on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah^(Y) from her position as queen mother,^(Z) because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah.^(AA) Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{(AB) 17} Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.^(AC)

¹⁹ There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Asa’s Last Years^(AD)(AE)

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha^(AF) king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

² Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.^{(AG) 3} “Let there be a treaty^(AH) between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim^[b] and all the store cities of Naphtali.^{(AI) 5} When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.^(AJ)

⁷ At that time Hanani^(AK) the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied^(AL) on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites^[c](AM) and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers^(AN) of chariots and horsemen^[d]? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered^(AO) them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes^(AP) of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish^(AQ) thing, and from now on you will be at war.^(AR)”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison.^(AS) At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

¹¹ The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted^(AT) with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek^(AU) help from the Lord,^(AV) but only from the physicians. ¹³ Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself^(AW) in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes,^(AX) and they made a huge fire^(AY) in his honor.

Jehoshaphat King of Judah

17 Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king and strengthened^(AZ) himself against Israel. ² He stationed troops in all the fortified cities^(BA) of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.^(BB)

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David^(BC) before him. He did not consult the Baals ⁴ but sought^(BD) the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. ⁵ The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts^(BE) to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor.^{(BF) 6} His heart was devoted^(BG) to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places^(BH) and the Asherah poles^(BI) from Judah.^(BJ)

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach^(BK) in the towns of Judah. ⁸ With them were certain Levites^(BL)—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law^(BM) of the Lord; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

¹⁰ The fear^(BN) of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs^(BO) brought him flocks:^(BP) seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah ¹³ and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Their enrollment^(BQ) by families was as follows:

¹⁹ These were the men who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities^(BT) throughout Judah.^(BU)