Beginning
13 1 Abijah maketh war against Jeroboam. 4 He showeth the occasion. 12 He trusteth in the Lord and overcometh Jeroboam. 21 Of his wives and children.
1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, began Abijah to reign over [a]Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem: (his mother’s name also was [b]Michaiah the daughter of [c]Uriel of Gibeah) and there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3 And Abijah set the battle in array with the army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men. Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men which were strong and valiant.
4 And Abijah stood up upon mount [d]Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, O Jeroboam, and all Israel, hear you me,
5 Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel hath given the kingdom over Israel to [e]David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant [f]of salt?
6 And Jeroboam the son of Nebat the servant of Solomon the son of David is risen up, and hath (A)rebelled against his lord:
7 And there are gathered to him [g]vain men and [h]wicked, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam the son of Solomon: for Rehoboam was [i]but a child and [j](B)tender hearted, and could not resist them.
8 Now therefore ye think that ye be able to resist against the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of the sons of David, and ye be a great multitude, and the golden calves are with you which Jeroboam made you for gods.
9 (C)Have ye not driven away the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you Priests like the people of other countries? whosoever cometh to [k]consecrate with a [l]young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a Priest of them that are no gods.
10 But we belong unto the Lord our God, and have not forsaken him, and the Priests the sons of Aaron minister unto the Lord, and the Levites in their office.
11 And they burn unto the Lord every [m]morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense, and the bread is set in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the watch of the Lord our God: but ye have forsaken him.
12 And behold, this God is [n]with us as a captain, and his Priests with the sounding trumpets to cry an alarm against you. O ye children of Israel, fight not against the Lord God of your fathers: for ye shall not prosper.
13 ¶ But Jeroboam caused an ambushment [o]to compass, and come behind them, when they were before Judah, and the ambushment behind them.
14 Then Judah looked, and behold, the battle was before and behind them, and they cried unto the Lord, and the Priests blew with the trumpets,
15 And the men of Judah gave a shout: and even as the men of Judah shouted, God [p]smote Jeroboam and also Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.
17 And Abijah and his people slew a great slaughter of them, so that there fell down wounded of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18 So the children of Israel were brought under at that time: and the children of Judah prevailed, [q]because they stayed upon the Lord God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, even Bethel and the [r]villages thereof, and Jeshanah with her villages, and Ephron with her villages.
20 And Jeroboam recovered no strength again in the days of Abijah, but the Lord plagued him, and he died.
21 So Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat two and twenty sons, and sixteen daughters.
22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, and his manners and his sayings, are written in the story of the Prophet Iddo.
14 3 Asa destroyeth idolatry, and commandeth his people to serve the true God. 11 He prayed unto God when he should go to fight. 12 He obtaineth the victory.
1 So (D)Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead: in whose days the land was quiet ten years.
2 And Asa did that was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.
3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the [s]groves,
4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do according to the Law and the Commandment.
5 And he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places, and the images: therefore the Kingdom was [t]quiet before him.
6 He built also strong cities in Judah, because the land was in rest, and he had no war in those years: for the Lord had given him rest.
7 Therefore he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make walls about, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is [u]before us: because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side: so they built and prospered.
8 And Asa had an army of Judah, that bare shields and spears, three hundred thousand, and of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were valiant men.
9 ¶ And there came out against him Zerah [v]of Ethiopia with an host of ten hundred thousand, and three hundred chariots, and came unto [w]Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out before him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah, beside Mareshah.
11 And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, (E)it is nothing with thee to help [x]with many, or with no power: help us, O Lord our God: for we rest on thee, and in thy Name are we come against this multitude: O Lord, thou art our God: [y]let not man prevail against thee.
12 ¶ So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
13 And Asa and the people that was with him, pursued them unto Gerar. And the Ethiopians’ host was overthrown, so that there was no life in them: for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his host: and they carried away a mighty great spoil.
14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar: for the [z]fear of the Lord came upon them, and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them.
15 Yea, and they smote the tents of cattle, and carried away plenty of sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
15 2 The exhortation of Azariah. 8 Asa purgeth his country of idolatry. 11 He sacrificeth with the people. 14 They swear together to serve the Lord. 16 He deposeth his mother for her idolatry.
1 Then the Spirit of God came upon [aa]Azariah the son of Obed.
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, O Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, hear ye me, The Lord is with you, while ye be with him: and if ye seek him, he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the [ab]true God, and without Priest to teach, and without Law.
4 But whosoever returned in his affliction to the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he [ac]was found of him.
5 And in that time there was no peace to him, that did go out and go in: but great troubles were to all the inhabitants of the earth.
6 For nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God troubled them with all adversity.
7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your [ad]work shall have a reward.
8 ¶ And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Obed the Prophet, he was encouraged, and took away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken of mount Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for there fell many to him out of Israel, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10 So they assembled to Jerusalem in the [ae]third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the Lord the same time of the [af]spoil which they had brought, even seven hundred bullocks, and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they made a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul.
13 And [ag]whosoever will not seek the Lord God of Israel, shall be slain, whether he were small or great, man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn unto the Lord with all their heart, and sought him with a whole desire, and he was [ah]found of them. And the Lord gave them rest round about.
16 ¶ And King Asa deposed (F)Maachah his [ai]mother from her regency, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa brake down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not [aj]taken away out of [ak]Israel: yet the heart of Asa was [al]perfect all his days.
18 Also he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19 And there was no war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
16 2 Asa for fear of Baasha king of Israel, maketh a covenant with Ben-Hadad king of Aram. 7 He is reproved by the Prophet. 10 Whom he putteth in prison. 12 He putteth his trust in the Physicians. 13 His death.
1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa came [am](G)Baasha king of Israel up against Judah, and built [an]Ramah, to let none pass out or go in to Asa king of Judah.
2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Aram that dwelt at [ao]Damascus, saying,
3 There is a covenant between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold: come, [ap]break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
4 And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of the army which he had, against the cities of Israel. And they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.
5 And when Baasha heard it, he left building of Ramah, and let his work cease.
6 Then Asa the king took all Judah, and carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha did build, and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
7 ¶ And at that same time Hanani the [aq]Seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast rested upon the king of Aram, and not rested in the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Aram escaped out of thine hand.
8 (H)The Ethiopians and the Lubim, were they not a great host with chariots and horsemen, exceedingly many? yet because thou didst rest upon the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.
9 For the eyes of the Lord behold all the earth, to show himself strong with them that are of perfect heart toward him: thou hast then done foolishly in this: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer, and put him into a [ar]prison: for he was [as]displeased with him, because of this thing. And Asa oppressed certain of the people at the same time.
11 And behold, the acts of Asa first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
12 ¶ And Asa in the nine and thirtieth year of his reign was [at](I)diseased in his feet, and his disease was [au][av]extreme: yet he sought not the Lord in his disease, but to the [aw]Physicians.
13 So Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
14 And they buried him in one of his sepulchers, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed, which they had filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices made by the art of the Apothecary: and they burnt odors for him with an exceeding great fire.
17 5 Jehoshaphat trusting in the Lord, prospereth in riches and honor. 6 He abolisheth idolatry, 7 and causeth the people to be taught. 11 He receiveth tribute of strangers. 13 His munitions, and men of war.
1 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and prevailed against Israel.
2 And he put garrisons in all the strong cities of Judah, and set bands in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.
3 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the [ax]first ways of his father David, and sought not [ay]Baalim,
4 But sought the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandment, and not after the [az]trade of Israel.
5 Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought presents to Jehoshaphat, so that he had of riches and honor in abundance.
6 And he [ba]lifted up his heart unto the ways of the Lord, and he took away moreover the high places and the groves out of Judah.
7 ¶ And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Ben-Hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Michaiah, that they should [bb]teach in the cities of Judah,
8 And with them Levites, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, Levites, and with them Elishama and Jehoram, Priests.
9 And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the Law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.
10 And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they [bc]fought not against Jehoshaphat.
11 Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute silver, and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.
12 So Jehoshaphat prospered and grew up on high, and he built in Judah palaces and cities of store.
13 And he had great works in the cities of Judah, and men of war, and valiant men in Jerusalem.
14 And these are the numbers of them after the house of their fathers, In Judah were captains of thousands, Adnah the captain, and [bd]with him of valiant men three hundred thousand.
15 And [be]at his hand Jehohanan a captain, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand.
16 And at his hand Amasiah the son of Zichri, [bf]which willingly offered himself unto the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand valiant men.
17 And of Benjamin, Eliada a valiant man, and with him armed men with bow and shield, two hundred thousand.
18 And at his hand Jehozabad, and with him an hundred and fourscore thousand armed to the war.
19 These [bg]waited on the king, besides those which the king put in the strong cities throughout all Judah.
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