Beginning

Abijah King of Judah

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

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah got ready for battle with an army of four hundred thousand strong warriors, each man specially chosen.^[c] Jeroboam lined up for battle against him with eight hundred thousand strong warriors, each man specially chosen.

⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said this to them:

¹³ However, Jeroboam had set up an ambush to come around them from behind. So the main enemy forces were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned and saw that the battle line was in front of them and behind them, they cried out to the Lord while the priests kept blowing the trumpets.

¹⁵ The men of Judah raised a battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The men of Israel fled from Judah, and God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people inflicted very heavy casualties on them. Five hundred thousand specially chosen men of Israel fell in battle.

¹⁸ So the men of Israel were subdued at that time. The men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages. ²⁰ Jeroboam never recovered his power during the days of Abijah. Then the Lord struck Jeroboam, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah grew strong. He took for himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his words, are written in the notes of the prophet Iddo.

14 Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa became king in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.^[d]

Asa King of Judah

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ He removed the foreign altars and the high places. He demolished the sacred memorial stones and chopped down the Asherah poles. ⁴ He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command. ⁵ He removed the high places and the sun pillars^[e] from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom enjoyed peace and quiet under him.

⁶ He built fortified cities in Judah because the land was quiet. He had no wars in those years because the Lord gave him rest.

⁷ Asa said to Judah, “We will build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, and barred gates. The land before us is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We sought him, and he has given us peace all around.”

So they built and prospered.

⁸ Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, who carried large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand men from Benjamin, who carried shields and were armed with bows. These were all strong, powerful warriors.

⁹ Zerah the Cushite^[f] came out against them with an army of a million^[g] men and three hundred chariots and advanced as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ Asa went out to confront him, and they formed battle lines in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹ Asa cried to the Lord his God, “Lord, there is no one except you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, because we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this horde.^[h] Lord, you are our God. Men will not prevail against you.”

¹² The Lord defeated the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. ¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell until none of them were left alive, because they were broken before the Lord and before his army, who carried away a large amount of plunder. ¹⁴ They struck all the cities around Gerar, because the dread of the Lord was upon them. They looted all the cities because there was a great deal of plunder in them. ¹⁵ Also they struck the tents of the herdsmen and carried off very many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa’s Reformation

15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said this to him:

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of^[i] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He put away the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in front of the porch of the Lord’s house.

⁹ He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those who had settled among them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because people from Israel had gone over to Asa in great numbers since they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ On that day they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep from the plunder they had brought.

¹² They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. ¹³ Anyone who did not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old,^[j] man or woman. ¹⁴ They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and ram’s horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, because they had sworn with all their heart, and they very eagerly sought the Lord. He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest on every side.

(1 Kings 15:13-15)

¹⁶ Asa even removed his grandmother Ma’akah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image and crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷ The high places, however, were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was completely committed throughout all his days. ¹⁸ He brought silver and gold and vessels and utensils to the House of the Lord as dedicated offerings for himself and his father.

Asa’s Treaty With Aram

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

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Ba’asha king of Israel attacked Judah, and he fortified Ramah, in order to keep anyone from going in or coming out from Asa king of Judah. ² So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the House of the Lord and from the palace of the king and sent it to Ben Hadad king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus.

He said, ³ “There should be a treaty between you and me as there was between my father and your father. Look! I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Ba’asha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim,^[k] and all the towns for storehouses in Naphtali. ⁵ When Ba’asha heard about it, he stopped building Ramah and put an end to his work on it. ⁶ King Asa then summoned all Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and the timber which Ba’asha had been using to build it. With them he built Geba and Mizpah.

Hanani the Seer Delivers a Message to Asa

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 you did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Weren’t the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army, with very many chariots and charioteers? When you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. ⁹ The Lord! It is his eyes that go back and forth over all the earth to offer strong support to the hearts of those who are completely committed to^[l] him. You have acted foolishly in this. From now on you will be at war.”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer, so he put him in prison because he was in a rage against him on account of this. At this time Asa also crushed some of the people.

Asa’s Disease and Death

¹¹ You can find the acts of Asa, from first to last, written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² Asa’s feet became diseased in the thirty-ninth year of his reign. His disease was very serious, but even when he was sick, he did not seek the Lord, but only his physicians.

¹³ Asa rested with his fathers. He died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in his tomb, which he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier^[m] that was covered with all kinds of fragrant spices and perfumed ointments, skillfully blended by the perfume makers. They burned a very large bonfire in his honor.

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah^[n]

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat ruled in his place. He strengthened his position against Israel and ² placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah. He placed garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the ways that his father David walked in the beginning. He did not seek the Baals, ⁴ but he sought the God of his father, and he walked in his commandments. He did not follow the example of Israel. ⁵ So the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah gave tribute to Jehoshaphat. He had abundant riches and honor. ⁶ His heart was bold in the ways of the Lord. Furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

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 Along with them he sent these Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, as well as the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ They taught in Judah. They took the Book of the Law^[o] of the Lord with them and traveled around through all the cities of Judah, teaching among the people.

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah. They did not wage war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver to Jehoshaphat as tribute. Also the Arabs brought flocks to him: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat was continually becoming greater and greater. He built fortresses and towns for storehouses in Judah.

¹³ He had large amounts of supplies^[p] in the cities of Judah, and soldiers who were powerful warriors were stationed in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Their numbers, based on their fathers’ houses, were as follows.

Belonging to Judah, these were the commanders of units of a thousand:

¹⁷ From Benjamin:

¹⁹ These were the men who served the king, in addition to those forces that the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.