Beginning
13 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam of Israel.
3 And Abijah prepared for battle with an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men, mighty men of valor.
4 And Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel!
5 Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
6 Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord [the king].
7 And there gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young [as king], irresolute, and inexperienced and did not withstand them with firmness and strength.
8 And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord which is in the hands of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and you have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you for gods.
9 Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? So whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of idols that are not gods.
10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service.
11 They offer to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and incense of sweet spices; they set in order the showbread on the table of pure gold and attend to the golden lampstand, that its lamps may be lighted every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him.
12 Behold, God Himself is with us at our head, and His priests with their battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O Israelites, fight not against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot prosper.
13 But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come around them from behind, so his troops were before Judah and the ambush behind.
14 When Judah looked, behold, the battle was before and behind; and they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.
15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 And the Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.
17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter, so there fell of Israel 500,000 chosen men.
18 Thus the Israelites were brought low at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord, the God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took some cities from him, Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephraim (Ephron), with their towns.
20 Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah. And the Lord smote him and he died.
21 But Abijah became mighty. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
14 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was at rest for ten years.
2 And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.
3 He took away the foreign altars and high places and broke down the idol pillars or obelisks and cut down the Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah]
4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers [to inquire of and for Him and crave Him as a vital necessity], and to obey the law and the commandment.
5 Also Asa took out of all the cities of Judah the idolatrous high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under his reign.
6 And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace.
7 Therefore he said to Judah, Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him [yearning for Him with all our desire] and He has given us rest and peace on every side. So they built and prospered.
8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men out of Judah, who bore bucklers and spears, and 280,000 out of Benjamin, who bore shields and drew bows, all mighty men of courage.
9 There came out against Judah Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a million [that is, too many to be numbered] and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out against him, and they set up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 Asa cried to the Lord his God, O Lord, there is none besides You to help, and it makes no difference to You whether the one You help is mighty or powerless. Help us, O Lord our God! For we rely on You, and we go against this multitude in Your name. O Lord, You are our God; let no man prevail against You!
12 So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
13 Asa and the people with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, so that none remained alive; for they were destroyed before the Lord and His host, who carried away very much booty.
14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.
15 They smote also the cattle encampments and carried away sheep in abundance and camels; and they returned to Jerusalem.
15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.
2 And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, craving Him as your soul’s first necessity], He will be found by you; but if you [become indifferent and] forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.
4 But when they in their trouble turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him, He was found by them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to him who went out nor to him who came in, but great and vexing afflictions and disturbances were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 Nation was broke in pieces against nation, and city against city, for God vexed and troubled them with all sorts of adversity.
7 Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak and slack, for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim; and he repaired the altar [of burnt offering] of the Lord which was in front of the porch or vestibule [of the house] of the Lord.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa out of Israel in large numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10 So they gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil which they had brought—700 oxen and 7,000 sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to yearn for Him with all their heart’s desire and with all their soul;
13 And that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
14 They took an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him [yearning for Him] with their whole desire, and He was found by them. And the Lord gave them rest and peace round about.
16 Also Maacah, King Asa’s mother, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her idol, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was blameless all his days.
18 And he brought into the house of God the things that his father [Abijah] had dedicated and those he himself had dedicated—silver and gold and vessels.
19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built (fortified) Ramah intending to intercept anyone going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
2 Then Asa brought silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,
3 Let there be a league between me and you, as was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending you silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.
4 And Ben-hadad hearkened to King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.
5 And when Baasha heard it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease.
6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, Because you relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
8 Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied then on the Lord, He gave them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him. You have done foolishly in this; therefore, from now on you shall have wars.
10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison [in the stocks], for he was enraged with him because of this. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
11 The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet—until his disease became very severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but relied on the physicians.
13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.
14 And they buried him in his own tomb which he had hewn out for himself in the City of David, and they laid him on a bier which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great burning [of spices] in his honor.
17 Jehoshaphat his son reigned in Asa’s stead and strengthened himself against Israel.
2 And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had taken.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father [David]. He did not seek the Baals
4 But sought and yearned with all his desire for the Lord, the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not after the ways of Israel.
5 Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.
6 His heart was cheered and his courage was high in the ways of the Lord; moreover, he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.
7 Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah;
8 And with them were the Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with these Levites were the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
9 And they taught in Judah, and had the Book of the Law of the Lord with them; they went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
10 And a terror from the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
11 And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute silver, and the Arabs brought him flocks: 7,700 each of rams and of he-goats.
12 And Jehoshaphat became very great. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities,
13 And he had many works in the cities of Judah, and soldiers, mighty men of courage, in Jerusalem.
14 This was the number of them by their fathers’ houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the chief, with 300,000 mighty men of valor;
15 Next to him was Jehohanan the captain, with 280,000;
16 And next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to the Lord, with 200,000 mighty men of valor.
17 Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, with 200,000 men armed with bow and shield;
18 Next to him was Jehozabad with 180,000 armed for war.
19 These were in the king’s service, besides those [he] had placed in fortified cities throughout all Judah.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation