Beginning

13 It was in the eighteenth year of King Yarov‘am that Aviyah began his reign over Y’hudah. ² He ruled three years in Yerushalayim; his mother’s name was Mikhayahu the daughter of Uri’el from Giv‘ah.

There was war between Aviyah and Yarov‘am. ³ Aviyah joined the battle with an army of valiant soldiers, 400,000 select troops; while Yarov‘am took the field against him with 800,000 select troops who were valiant, strong men.

⁴ Aviyah, standing on Mount Z’marayim, in the hills of Efrayim, cried, “Yarov‘am and all Isra’el! Listen to me! ⁵ Don’t you know that Adonai, the God of Isra’el, gave rulership over Isra’el to David forever, to him and his descendants, by a covenant of salt [which is unbreakable]? ⁶ Yet Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, servant to Shlomo the son of David, rose in rebellion against his lord. ⁷ There rallied around him worthless brutes who were too strong for Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo to withstand when he was young and inexperienced. ⁸ Now you expect to withstand the kingdom of Adonai in the hands of the descendants of David. Yes, there are a great number of you, and you have with you the gold calves that Yarov‘am made as gods for you. ⁹ Yes, you drove out the cohanim of Adonai, the descendants of Aharon, and the L’vi’im; and you made yourselves priests as do the peoples in other countries, so that anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of those non-gods.

¹⁰ “But we are different. Adonai is our God, and we have not abandoned him. We have cohanim performing the service for Adonai, descendants of Aharon. With the L’vi’im doing their work, ¹¹ they burn to Adonai every morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet incense; they arrange the showbread on the pure table, and they prepare the gold menorah with its lamps to burn every evening. For we observe the order of Adonai our God. But you have abandoned him.

¹² “So look here! God is with us, leading us and his cohanim with the battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. People of Isra’el! Don’t fight against Adonai, the God of your ancestors; because you will not succeed.”

¹³ But Yarov‘am prepared to ambush them from behind, so that the main body was ahead of Y’hudah, while the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ Thus when Y’hudah looked back, the battle had to be fought in front of them and behind them.

They cried to Adonai, and the cohanim sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Y’hudah gave forth a shout, and as the men of Y’hudah shouted, God struck Yarov‘am and all Isra’el before Aviyah and Y’hudah. ¹⁶ The people of Isra’el fled before Y’hudah, and God handed them over to them. ¹⁷ Aviyah and his army inflicted a great slaughter on them — 500,000 of Isra’el’s select soldiers fell dead. ¹⁸ Thus the people of Isra’el were subdued that time, and the people of Y’hudah won the victory, because they relied on Adonai the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Aviyah pursued Yarov‘am, taking from him the towns of Beit-El with its villages, Y’shanah with its villages and ‘Efrayin with its villages. ²⁰ Yarov‘am did not recover his strength during the time of Aviyahu. Finally Adonai struck him, and he died. ²¹ But Aviyahu grew strong; he married fourteen wives and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² Other activities of Aviyah, together with his ways of doing things and his sayings, are recorded in the commentary of the prophet ‘Iddo. ^23 (14:1) Aviyah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son became king in his place; during his time the land was quiet for ten years.

14 ⁽²⁾ Asa did what was good and right from the perspective of Adonai his God; ^2 (3) for he removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashing the standing-stones and chopping down the sacred poles. ^3 (4) He ordered Y’hudah to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, and to obey the Torah and the mitzvah. ^4 (5) He removed the high places and pillars for sun-worship from all the cities of Y’hudah, and under him the kingdom was quiet.

^5 (6) Because the land was quiet, and he had no war during those years, since Adonai had given him rest, he built fortified cities in Y’hudah. ^6 (7) “Let’s build these cities,” he said to Y’hudah; “we’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is there for us to use, because we have sought Adonai our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.

^7 (8) Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Y’hudah, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 from Binyamin, with shields and bows; all were brave, strong men. ^8 (9) Zerach the Ethiopian came out to attack them with an army of one million and three hundred chariots. When he arrived at Mareshah, ^9 (10) Asa went out to fight him, and the forces were arranged for battle in the Tz’fat Valley at Mareshah.

^10 (11) Asa cried out to Adonai his God, “Adonai, there is no one besides yourself, strong or weak, who can help. Help us, Adonai our God, because we are relying on you, and we are coming against this vast throng in your name. You are Adonai our God; don’t let human beings stop you!” ^11 (12) So Adonai struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Y’hudah, and the Ethiopians fled. ^12 (13) Asa and the army with him pursued them to G’rar, and the Ethiopians were defeated beyond recovery; they were shattered before Adonai and his army, who carried off much spoil. ^13 (14) Then they attacked all the cities in the vicinity of G’rar, for a panic from Adonai had overcome them. They plundered all the cities, for they were full of spoil. ^14 (15) They also attacked the tents of those tending the livestock and carried off sheep and camels in abundance. Then they returned to Yerushalayim.

15 The Spirit of God came on ‘Azaryah the son of ‘Oded; ² he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Y’hudah and Binyamin! Adonai is with you, as long as you are with him; if you seek him, you will find him; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you! ³ For a long time Isra’el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah. ⁴ But when, in their distress, they turned to Adonai the God of Isra’el and sought him, they found him. ⁵ In those times people going about their business were insecure, and great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands; ⁶ so that they were shattered to pieces, nation against nation and city against city, as God troubled them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But you, be strong, and don’t slack off; for your work will be rewarded.”

⁸ When Asa heard these words prophesied by ‘Oded the prophet, it gave him courage to throw the disgusting things out of the whole land of Y’hudah and Binyamin and out of the cities he had captured in the hills of Efrayim; he also renewed the altar of Adonai which was in front of the vestibule of Adonai. ⁹ Then he gathered all Y’hudah and Binyamin, along with those from Efrayim, M’nasheh and Shim‘on who were staying with him (for they had defected to him in large numbers upon seeing that Adonai his God was with him). ¹⁰ They assembled together at Yerushalayim in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ That day they sacrificed to Adonai 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought; ¹² and they entered into a covenant to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their being; ¹³ [they also agreed] that whoever refused to seek Adonai the God of Isra’el should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ They swore this to Adonai in a loud voice, with shouting and blowing of trumpets and shofars. ¹⁵ All Y’hudah was full of joy at this oath; for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with all their will; and they found him, and Adonai gave them rest all around.

¹⁶ Asa the king also deposed Ma‘akhah his [grand]mother from her position as queen mother, because she had made a disgusting image for an asherah. Asa cut down this image of hers, chopped it into tiny pieces and burned it in Vadi Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Isra’el. Nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted throughout his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God all the articles his father had consecrated, also the things he himself had consecrated — silver, gold and utensils.

¹⁹ There was no more war through the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Ba‘asha king of Isra’el attacked Y’hudah, and he fortified Ramah to prevent anyone’s leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Y’hudah. ² Then Asa removed silver and gold from the treasures of the house of Adonai and the royal palace; and sent this message to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Dammesek: ³ “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Here, I am sending you silver and gold; go, and break your covenant with Ba‘asha king of Isra’el, so that he will leave me alone.” ⁴ Ben-Hadad did as King Asa had asked — he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Isra’el, attacking ‘Iyon, Dan, Avel-Mayim and all the storage-cities of Naftali. ⁵ As soon as Ba‘asha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Asa the king took all Y’hudah and carried off the stones and timber which Ba‘asha had used to fortify Ramah. With them he fortified Geva and Mitzpah.

⁷ It was around then that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Y’hudah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and didn’t rely on Adonai your God, the king of Aram’s army has escaped from your power. ⁸ The army of the Ethiopians and Luvim was huge, wasn’t it? How many chariots and horsemen did they have? Yet because you relied on Adonai, he handed them over to you. ⁹ For the eyes of Adonai move here and there throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those who are wholehearted toward him. You acted foolishly in this regard; for from now on, you will have war.” ¹⁰ But Asa became angry at the seer; in fact, because of his rage at him over this matter he threw him in prison. Moreover, at the same time, he mistreated some of the people.

¹¹ The activities of Asa from beginning to end are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah and Isra’el.

¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a disease in his legs. It was a very serious disease, yet even with this disease he did not seek out Adonai but turned to the physicians. ¹³ Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in his own burial cave, which he had ordered cut for himself in the City of David. They laid him in a bed filled with sweet spices of various kinds, expertly compounded; and a very great fire was kindled in his honor.

17 Then Y’hoshafat his son became king in his place. He strengthened his position against Isra’el ² by placing forces in all the fortified cities of Y’hudah, and by garrisoning troops in the territory of Y’hudah and in the cities of Efrayim that Asa his father had captured. ³ Adonai was with Y’hoshafat, because he lived according to the first ways of his ancestor David, not seeking the ba‘alim, ⁴ but seeking the God of his father and living by his mitzvot, not by what Isra’el did. ⁵ Therefore Adonai consolidated his rulership; all Y’hudah brought presents to Y’hoshafat, so that he had wealth and honor in abundance. ⁶ In his heart he highly regarded Adonai’s ways; moreover, he removed the high places and sacred poles from Y’hudah.

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his leading men Ben-Chayil, ‘Ovadyah, Z’kharyah, N’tan’el and Mikhayahu to teach in the cities of Y’hudah; ⁸ with them were the L’vi’im Sh’ma‘yahu, N’tanyahu, Z’vadyahu, ‘Asah’el, Sh’miramot, Y’honatan, Adoniyahu, Tuviyahu and Tov-Adoniyah, the L’vi’im; and with them Elishama and Y’horam the cohanim. ⁹ They taught in Y’hudah, having a scroll of the Torah of Adonai with them; they circulated through all the cities of Y’hudah, teaching among the people.

¹⁰ A panic from Adonai seized all the kingdoms in the lands surrounding Y’hudah, so that they did not make war against Y’hoshafat. ¹¹ Some of the P’lishtim brought Y’hoshafat gifts and silver as tribute; the Arabs too brought him flocks — 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.

¹² So Y’hoshafat grew increasingly powerful. In Y’hudah he built fortresses and storage cities. ¹³ He had many projects in the cities of Y’hudah; and in Yerushalayim he had warriors, strong brave men. ¹⁴ Here is a listing of them by clans: from Y’hudah, the captains of thousands: ‘Adnah the leader, and with him 300,000 strong, brave men; ¹⁵ next to him Y’hochanan the leader, and with him 280,000; ¹⁶ next to him ‘Amasyah the son of Zikhri, who volunteered to serve Adonai, and with him 200,000 strong, brave men. ¹⁷ From Binyamin: Elyada, a strong, brave man, and with him 200,000 equipped with bows and shields; ¹⁸ next to him Y’hozavad, and with him 180,000 prepared for war. ¹⁹ These served the king, in addition to those the king assigned to the fortified cities throughout all Y’hudah.