⁴ who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying: ^(A)‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. ⁵ For I,’ says the Lord, ‘will be ^(B)a wall of fire all around her, ^(C)and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ”

⁵ then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, ^(A)a cloud and smoke by day and ^(B)the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a ^[a]covering. ⁶ And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, ^(C)for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

The Lord the Strength of His People

A Song of Ascents.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(C)

³⁶ Then the ^(D)angel^[a] of the Lord went out, and ^[b]killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

The Majesty of God in Judgment

To the Chief Musician. On ^[a]stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

^9 (A)Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^(B)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa ^(C)cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is ^(D)nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and ^(E)in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”

¹² So the Lord ^(F)struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to ^(G)Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much ^[a]spoil. ¹⁴ Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for ^(H)the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much ^[b]spoil in them. ¹⁵ They also ^[c]attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir Defeated

20 It happened after this that the people of ^(A)Moab with the people of ^(B)Ammon, and others with them besides the ^(C)Ammonites,^[a] came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ² Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from ^[b]Syria; and they are ^(D)in Hazazon Tamar” (which is ^(E)En Gedi). ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set ^[c]himself to ^(F)seek the Lord, and ^(G)proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask ^(H)help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not ^(I)God in heaven, and ^(J)do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and ^(K)in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? ⁷ Are You not ^(L)our God, who ^(M)drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham ^(N)Your friend forever? ⁸ And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ^9 (O)‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your ^(P)name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You ^(Q)would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but ^(R)they turned from them and did not destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, rewarding us ^(S)by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will You not ^(T)judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but ^(U)our eyes are upon You.”

¹³ Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

¹⁴ Then ^(V)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ^(W)‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, ^(X)for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ^[d]brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ^17 (Y)You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, ^(Z)for the Lord is with you.”

¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat ^(AA)bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

²⁰ So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: ^(AB)Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” ²¹ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, ^(AC)and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

²² Now when they began to sing and to praise, ^(AF)the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³ For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they ^[e]had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, ^(AG)they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴ So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the ^[f]dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of ^[g]Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. ²⁷ Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had ^(AH)made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹ And ^(AI)the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his ^(AJ)God gave him rest all around.

The End of Jehoshaphat’s Reign^(AK)

^31 (AL)So Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³² And he walked in the way of his father ^(AM)Asa, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. ³³ Nevertheless ^(AN)the ^[h]high places were not taken away, for as yet the people had not ^(AO)directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

³⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, ^(AP)which is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵ After this ^(AQ)Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, ^(AR)who acted very ^(AS)wickedly. ³⁶ And he allied himself with him ^(AT)to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion Geber. ³⁷ But Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.” ^(AU)Then the ships were wrecked, so that they were not able to go ^(AV)to Tarshish.