Beginning

Chapter 13

War Between Abijah and Jeroboam. ^1 (A)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah; ² he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

^3 [a]Abijah joined battle with a force of four hundred thousand picked warriors, while Jeroboam lined up against him in battle with eight hundred thousand picked and valiant warriors. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the highlands of Ephraim, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given David kingship over Israel forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?^{[b] 6} Yet Jeroboam, son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, son of David, arose and rebelled against his lord!^{(B) 7} Worthless men, scoundrels, joined him and overcame Rehoboam, son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced, and no match for them. ⁸ But now, do you think you are a match for the kingdom of the Lord led by the descendants of David, simply because you are a huge multitude and have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods? ⁹ Have you not expelled the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Everyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest of no-gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned him. The priests ministering to the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites also have their offices. ¹¹ They sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord and fragrant incense morning after morning and evening after evening; they set out the showbread on the pure table, and the lamps of the golden menorah burn evening after evening; for we observe our duties to the Lord, our God, but you have abandoned him. ¹² See, God is with us, at our head, and his priests are here with trumpets to sound the attack against you. Israelites, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed!”

¹³ But Jeroboam had an ambush go around them to come at them from the rear; so that while his army faced Judah, his ambush lay behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned and saw that they had to battle on both fronts, they cried out to the Lord and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the Judahites shouted; and when they shouted, God struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their power. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people inflicted a severe defeat upon them; five hundred thousand picked men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ The Israelites were humbled on that occasion, while the Judahites were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and seized cities from him: Bethel and its dependencies, Jeshanah and its dependencies, and Ephron and its dependencies. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not regain power during Abijah’s time; the Lord struck him down and he died, ²¹ while Abijah continued to grow stronger. He married fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

Death of Abijah. ^22 (C)The rest of the acts of Abijah, his deeds and his words, are recorded in the midrash of the prophet Iddo. ²³ Abijah rested with his ancestors; they buried him in the City of David and his son Asa succeeded him as king. During his time, the land had ten years of peace.

Chapter 14

Asa’s Initial Reforms. ^1 (D)Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord, his God. ² He removed the illicit altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the asherahs. ³ He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁴ He removed the high places and incense stands from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom had peace. ⁵ He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had peace and no war was waged against him during these years, because the Lord had given him rest. ⁶ He said to Judah: “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, for we have sought the Lord, our God; we sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

The Ethiopian Invasion.^{[c] 7} Asa had an army of three hundred thousand shield- and lance-bearers from Judah, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand who carried bucklers and were archers, all of them valiant warriors. ⁸ Zerah the Ethiopian advanced against them with a force of one million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.^{(E) 9} Asa went out to meet him and they drew up for battle in the valley of Zephathah, near Mareshah. ¹⁰ Asa called upon the Lord, his God: “Lord, there is none like you to help the powerless against the strong. Help us, Lord, our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. You are the Lord, our God; do not let men prevail against you.”^{(F) 11} And so the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹² Asa and those with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until there were no survivors, for they were crushed before the Lord and his army, which carried away enormous spoils. ¹³ Then the Judahites conquered all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them; they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁴ They also attacked the tents of the cattle-herders and carried off a great number of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15

Further Reforms. ¹ The spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of Oded. ² He went forth to meet Asa and said to him: “Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him he will be found; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.^{(G) 3} For a long time Israel was without a true God, without a priest-teacher, without instruction, ⁴ but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.^{(H) 5} At that time there was no peace for anyone to go or come; rather, there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶ Nation crushed nation and city crushed city,^(I) for God overwhelmed them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong and do not slack off, for there shall be a reward for what you do.”^(J)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the Lord which was before the vestibule of the Lord. ⁹ Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were resident with them; for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord, his God, was with him. ¹⁰ They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month^[d] of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, ¹¹ and sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. ^12 (K)They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul; ¹³ and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, from least to greatest, man or woman. ¹⁴ They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire. The Lord was found by them,^(L) and gave them rest on every side.

^16 (M)He also deposed Maacah, the mother^[e] of King Asa, from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene object for Asherah; Asa cut down this object, smashed it, and burnt it in the Wadi Kidron. ¹⁷ The high places did not disappear from Israel, yet Asa’s heart was undivided as long as he lived. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God his father’s and his own votive offerings: silver, gold, and vessels. ¹⁹ There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Chapter 16

Asa’s Infidelity. ^1 (N)In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to block all movement for Asa, king of Judah. ² Asa then brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the house of the king and sent them to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus. He said: ³ “There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, besides all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, putting an end to his work. ⁶ Then King Asa commandeered all Judah and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them he fortified 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 Aram and did not rely on the Lord, your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped^[f] your power. ^8 (O)Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army, with great numbers of chariots and horses? And yet, because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power. ⁹ The eyes of the Lord roam over the whole earth,^(P) to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly. You have acted foolishly in this matter, for from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ But Asa became angry with the seer and imprisoned him in the stocks, so greatly was he enraged at him over this. Asa also oppressed some of his people at this time.

^11 (Q)Now the acts of Asa, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted disease in his feet; it became worse, but even with this disease he did not seek the Lord, only physicians. ¹³ Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, after laying him on a couch that was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment; and they kindled a huge fire for him.

Chapter 17

Jehoshaphat’s Zeal for the Law. ¹ His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king and strengthened his position against Israel.^{(R) 2} He placed armed 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,^[g] for he walked in the earlier ways of David his father, and did not seek the Baals. ⁴ Rather, he sought the God of his father and walked in his commands, and not the practices of Israel. ⁵ Through him, the Lord made the kingdom secure, and all Judah gave Jehoshaphat gifts, so that great wealth and glory was his. ⁶ Thus he was encouraged^[h] to follow the Lord’s ways, and once again he removed the high places and the asherahs from Judah.^(S)

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. ⁸ With them he sent the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, and Tobijah, together with Elishama and Jehoram the priests.^{(T) 9} They taught in Judah, having with them the book of the law of the Lord; they traveled through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.^(U)

His Power. ¹⁰ Now the fear of the Lord was upon all the kingdoms of the countries surrounding Judah, so that they did not war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and a tribute of silver; the Arabians also brought him a flock of seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat grew ever greater. He built strongholds and store cities in Judah. ¹³ He carried out many works in the cities of Judah, and he had soldiers, valiant warriors, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ This was their mustering according to their ancestral houses. From Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him three hundred thousand valiant warriors. ¹⁵ Next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him two hundred eighty thousand. ¹⁶ Next to him, Amasiah, son of Zichri, who offered himself to the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand valiant warriors. ¹⁷ From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant warrior, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and buckler. ¹⁸ Next to him, Jehozabad, and with him one hundred and eighty thousand equipped for war. ¹⁹ These attended the king; in addition to those whom the king had stationed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.