⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. ¹⁰ Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.”

¹² So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

⁵ Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in Yahweh’s house, before the new court; ⁶ and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you. ⁷ Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring^[a] of Abraham your friend forever? ⁸ They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If evil comes on us—the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this house, and before you (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them; ¹¹ behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹² Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, ¹⁶ “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. ²⁰ Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”