2 Chronicles 20:20-37

New American Standard Bible

Enemies Destroy Themselves

²⁰ They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: ^(A)Put your trust in the Lord your God and you will endure. Put your trust in His prophets, and succeed.” ²¹ When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who ^(B)praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “^(C)Give thanks to the Lord, for His faithfulness is everlasting.” ²² When they began singing and praising, the Lord ^(D)set ambushes against the sons of ^(E)Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down. ²³ For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, completely destroying them; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, ^(F)they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴ When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they turned toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and there was no survivor. ²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoils, they found much among them, including goods, ^[a]garments, and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were taking the spoils for three days because there was so much.

Triumphant Return to Jerusalem

²⁶ Then on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for they blessed the Lord there. Therefore they have named that place “The Valley of ^[b]Beracah” until today. ²⁷ Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, ^(G)for the Lord had helped them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹ And ^(H)the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, ^(I)for his God gave him rest on all sides.

^31 (J)Now Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³² He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not deviate from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord. ^33 (K)The high places, however, were not removed; ^(L)the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

³⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first ^[c]to last, behold, they are written in the annals of ^(M)Jehu the son of Hanani, which is ^[d]recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

Alliance Displeases God

^35 (N)After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly ^[e]in so doing. ³⁶ So he allied himself with him to make ships to go ^(O)to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. ³⁷ Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.” So the ships were wrecked and could not go to Tarshish.