Beginning

Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam^(A)

13 During the eighteenth year of the reign of^[a] King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Uriel’s daughter Micaiah from Gibeah.

A war started between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah started the battle with an army of 400,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers, but Jeroboam opposed him with 800,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and announced:

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to attack from the rear, so Israel was in front of Judah, with the ambush set in place behind them. ¹⁴ When the army of^[e] Judah turned around to look, they were being attacked from both front and rear, so they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded their trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain. ¹⁸ And so the descendants of Israel were defeated at that time. The descendants of Judah were victorious because they trusted in the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ After this Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

Jeroboam’s Death and Asa’s Reign in Judah

²⁰ Jeroboam never recovered his strength for the rest of Abijah’s life. The Lord struck Jeroboam,^[f] and he died, ²¹ but Abijah continued to grow more powerful. He took fourteen wives for himself and fathered 22 sons and sixteen daughters. ²² The rest of Abijah’s accomplishments, his lifestyle and his memoirs are recorded in the Midrash^[g] of the Prophet Iddo. 14 ^1 [h]Then Abijah died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. Abijah’s^[i] son Asa reigned in his place, and during his lifetime the land enjoyed rest for ten years.

Asa Chooses to do What is Right^(B)

^2 [j]Asa practiced what the Lord his God considered to be right ³ by removing the foreign altars and high places, tearing down the sacred pillars, cutting down the Asherim,^[k] and ⁴ commanding Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors and to keep the Law and the commandments. ⁵ He also removed the high places and incense altars from all of the cities of Judah. As a result, the kingdom enjoyed rest under Asa’s leadership.^[l]

⁶ Asa^[m] built fortified cities throughout Judah while the land lay undisturbed, because the Lord had given him peace so that no one went to war against him during those years. ⁷ He had told Judah, “Let’s build up these cities, surrounding them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land still belongs to us, because we have kept on seeking the Lord our God. We have sought him out, and he has given us rest all around us.” So the people built and prospered. ⁸ Asa kept a standing army of 300,000 soldiers from Judah equipped with large shields and spears, as well as 280,000 soldiers from Benjamin, also bearing shields and wielding bows. All of them were valiant soldiers.

Ethiopia Invades and is Repulsed

⁹ Sometime later, Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against him at Mareshah with an army of one million troops and 300 chariots. ¹⁰ Asa went out to engage him in battle, and they drew up their battle lines at Mareshah in the Zephathah Valley. ¹¹ Asa cried out to the Lord his God, telling him, “Lord, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, Lord God, because we’re depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. Lord, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!”

¹² So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians right in front of Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and his army pursued the Ethiopians^[n] as far as Gerar. So many Ethiopians died that their army could not recover, because it had been shattered in the Lord’s presence and in the presence of his army. The Israelis^[o] carried off a lot of plunder, too. ¹⁴ They attacked all the cities that surrounded Gerar, because fear of the Lord had overwhelmed them. The Israelis spoiled all the cities, because there was a lot to plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also attacked the tents of those who owned livestock and carried off lots of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Azariah the Prophet Encourages Asa

15 After this, the Spirit of God came to rest on Oded’s son Azariah, ² so he went out to meet Asa and rebuked him:

Asa Institutes Reforms

⁸ Encouraged by what Oded’s son Azariah the prophet had said in his prophecy, Asa^[u] removed the detestable idols from throughout the entire territories of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the Lord’s altar that stood in front of the vestibule of the Lord’s Temple. ⁹ Then he gathered together all of Judah, Benjamin, and people from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them, since many people had defected to him from Israel when they learned that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ They all assembled in Jerusalem during the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ They sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil that they had brought with them. ¹² They also entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their heart and soul, ¹³ and they further agreed that^[v] whoever would refuse to seek the Lord God of Israel was to be executed, whether important or unimportant, man or woman. ¹⁴ They also made a vow to the Lord with loud voices, shouting, trumpets, and horns. ¹⁵ Everybody in Judah was very glad to make their oath, because they had made their vow with all their heart and had sought him with all of their might,^[w] and they found him! The Lord also gave them rest in their surrounding lands.

¹⁶ King Asa removed his mother Maacah from her position as Queen Mother because she had made a detestable image dedicated to Asherah.^[x] He cut down his mother’s idol, crushed it, and burned it at the Kidron Brook. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, the high places were not removed from Israel, even though Asa’s heart was blameless all of his life. ¹⁸ Asa brought into God’s Temple the things that his father had dedicated, as well as his own dedicated gifts such as silver, gold, and temple service^[y] implements. ¹⁹ Asa experienced no more war until the end of the^[z] thirty-fifth year of his reign.

Asa Attacks Baasha^(C)

16 During the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah. ² But Asa removed some silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and from his royal palace and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who lived in Damascus. ³ “Let’s make a treaty between you and me,” he said, “just like the one between my father and your father. Notice that I’ve sent you silver and gold to break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he’ll retreat from his attack^[aa] on me.”

⁴ So King Ben-hadad did just what King Asa had asked: he sent his commanding officers to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Bel-maim, and all of the storage centers in Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha learned of the attack, he withdrew from Ramah and stopped his interdiction. ⁶ Then King Asa brought his entire army of Judah to carry away the building stones and the timber that Baasha had been using to surround Ramah, and he used those materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah.

Asa is Rebuked by Hanani the Seer^(D)

⁷ Right about then, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and rebuked him. “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your control. ⁸ Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Libyans a vast army with many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your control! ⁹ The Lord’s eyes keep on roaming throughout the earth, looking for those whose hearts completely belong to him, so that he may strongly support them. But because you have acted foolishly in this, from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ In response, Asa flew into a rage and locked up the seer in stocks in the palace prison^[ab] because of what Hanani^[ac] had told him. Asa also tortured some of the people of Israel^[ad] at that time.

Asa’s Illness and Death^(E)

¹¹ Now the accomplishments of Asa from first to last are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a foot disease. Even though he suffered greatly, he never sought the Lord, but instead looked to doctors. ¹³ As a result, in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died, as had his ancestors, ¹⁴ and he was buried in his own tomb that he had prepared^[ae] for himself in the City of David. He was laid out on a bier that had been filled with various spices prepared by morticians,^[af] and the mourners^[ag] built a massive bonfire to honor his memory.

Jehoshaphat Succeeds Asa

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king, and he consolidated his authority over Israel ² by placing troops in all of the fortified citadels through Judah and by establishing garrisons throughout the land of Judah and in the cities that his father Asa had captured.

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example set during his ancestor David’s preliminary years by not pursuing the Baals.^{[ah] 4} Instead, Jehoshaphat^[ai] sought the God of his ancestors and obeyed his commands, unlike Israel. ⁵ Therefore the Lord secured Jehoshaphat’s^[aj] kingdom under his control, with all of Judah paying him tribute, and Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and greatly respected. ⁶ He remained committed to following the Lord, and he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

Jehoshaphat Institutes Teaching Programs

⁷ During the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach throughout the cities of Judah. ⁸ They were accompanied by the descendants of Levi, including^[ak] Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah. These descendants of Levi were accompanied by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ They taught throughout Judah from a copy of the Book of the Law of the Lord that they took with them as they passed through all the cities of Judah, teaching among all the people.

Jehoshaphat’s Military and Economic Stability

¹⁰ Because they were afraid of the Lord, none of the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah dared go to war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat, and Arabians brought him flocks of 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. ¹² As a result, Jehoshaphat grew more and more powerful, and built up fortresses and storage centers throughout Judah. ¹³ He placed a large amount of supplies into storage throughout the cities of Judah and stationed soldiers—all of them valiant men—in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Here’s how they were mustered, listed according to their ancestral houses and listed by commanders of thousands: Adnah commanded 300,000 elite forces. ¹⁵ Near him was Johanan, commander of 280,000 ¹⁶ and next to him was Zichri’s son Amasiah, who had volunteered to serve the Lord. He commanded 200,000 elite forces. ¹⁷ There was also Eliada from Benjamin, himself a valiant soldier. He was accompanied by 200,000 expert archers bearing shields. ¹⁸ Near him was Jehozabad, who was accompanied by 180,000 soldiers equipped for warfare. ¹⁹ These men served the king, and there were others whom the king garrisoned inside fortified cities throughout all of Judah.