Jehoshaphat Appoints Judges

⁴ Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

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^(A) from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured^(B) in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar^(C) 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^(D) 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^(E) 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^(F) they had brought back. ¹² They entered into a covenant^(G) to seek the Lord,^(H) 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,^(I) whether small or great, man or woman.

¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord,^(A) in the spirit and power of Elijah,^(B) to turn the hearts of the parents to their children^(C) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”^(D)

⁶ He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,^(A) and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike^(B) the land with total destruction.”^(C)

¹⁰ Now I intend to make a covenant^(A) with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger^(B) will turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him,^(C) to minister^(D) before him and to burn incense.”

¹⁵ Samuel^(A) continued as Israel’s leader^(B) all^(C) the days of his life. ¹⁶ From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel^(D) to Gilgal^(E) to Mizpah, judging^(F) Israel in all those places. ¹⁷ But he always went back to Ramah,^(G) where his home was, and there he also held court^(H) for Israel. And he built an altar^(I) there to the Lord.

³ So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning^(A) to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid^(B) yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths^(C) and commit^(D) yourselves to the Lord and serve him only,^(E) and he will deliver^(F) you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

The Israelites Punish the Benjamites

20 Then all Israel^(A) from Dan to Beersheba^(B) and from the land of Gilead came together as one^(C) and assembled^(D) before the Lord in Mizpah.^(E)

A Levite and His Concubine

19 In those days Israel had no king.

Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim^(A) took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.^(B)