Beginning

13 ¶ Now in the year eighteen of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.

² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³ And Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

⁴ And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel;

⁵ do ye not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, unto him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

⁶ Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the slave of Solomon the son of David, is risen up and has rebelled against his lord.

⁷ And there are gathered unto him vain men, the sons of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them.

⁸ And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David because ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

⁹ Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may become a priest of those that are not gods.

¹⁰ But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business;

¹¹ and they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and aromatic incense, and they place the showbread upon the clean table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but ye have forsaken him.

¹² And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.

¹³ ¶ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴ So when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind; and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

¹⁵ Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶ And the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷ And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

¹⁸ Thus the sons of Israel were humbled at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.

¹⁹ And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its towns and Jeshanah with its towns and Ephron with its towns.

²⁰ Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah waxed mighty and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² And the rest of the acts of Abijah and his ways and his words 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 had rest ten years.

² And Asa did that which 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 broke down the images and cut down the groves

⁴ and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and they fulfilled the law and the commandments.

⁵ Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images, and the kingdom had rest before him.

⁶ And he built fenced cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years because the LORD had given him rest.

⁷ Therefore, he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities and make about them walls and towers, gates, and bars, now that the land is ours; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. So they built and were prospered.

⁸ And Asa had an army of men that bore shields and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty thousand; all these were mighty men of valour.

⁹ ¶ And there came out against them Zerah, the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots and came unto Mareshah.

¹⁰ Then Asa went out against him, and they ordered the battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹ And Asa cried unto the LORD his God and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with those that have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; do not let 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 were with him pursued them unto Gerar, and the Ethiopians were overthrown until there were none left alive, for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his host, and they carried away very much spoil.

¹⁴ And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them.

¹⁵ They smote also the booths of livestock and carried away sheep and camels in abundance and returned to Jerusalem.

15 ¶ And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded;

² and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

³ For many days Israel has been without the true God, and without a priest and without a teacher and without law,

⁴ but when they in their trouble turned unto the LORD God of Israel and sought him, he was found of them.

⁵ And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great destruction upon all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶ And one Gentile destroyed the other, and one city the other; for God discomforted them with all adversity.

⁷ Be ye strong, therefore, and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.

⁸ ¶ And when Asa heard the words and prophecy of Oded, the prophet, he was comforted and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken in Mount Ephraim and repaired 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 many of Israel had gone over to him, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

¹⁰ So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹ And they offered unto the LORD the same day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

¹² And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

¹³ that whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

¹⁴ And they swore unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting and with trumpets and with shofar.

¹⁵ And all those of Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them; and the LORD gave them rest round about.

¹⁶ And also concerning Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa cut down her idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁷ But with all this the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels.

¹⁹ And there was no more war until the year thirty-five of the reign of Asa.

16 ¶ In the year thirty-six of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let no one go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.

² Then Asa brought out the silver and the gold out of the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent unto Benhadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

³ There is a covenant between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

⁴ And Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they smote Ijon and Dan and Abelmaim and all the store cities of Naphtali.

⁵ And when Baasha heard it, he left off building of Ramah and let his work cease.

⁶ Then Asa, the king, took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof, with which Baasha was building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with it.

⁷ ¶ And at that time Hanani, the seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore, the host of the king of Syria has escaped out of thy hands.

⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thy hand.

⁹ For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly, for from now on thou shalt have wars.

¹⁰ Then Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in the prison house, for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa killed some of the people at the same time.

¹¹ And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² And Asa in the year thirty-nine of his reign was diseased from his feet up; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.

¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers and died in the year forty-one of his reign.

¹⁴ And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and aromas prepared by the apothecaries’ art; and they made a very great burning for him.

17 ¶ And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead and prevailed against Israel.

² And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and likewise in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa, his father had taken.

³ And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not unto the Baalim

⁴ but sought the LORD God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

⁵ Therefore, the LORD confirmed the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought Jehoshaphat presents, and he had riches and glory in abundance.

⁶ And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD, and he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

⁷ Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Benhail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethaneel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

⁸ And with them he sent the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, 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, so that they did not dare to make war against Jehoshaphat.

¹¹ And the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute of silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he goats.

¹² And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store.

¹³ And he had many works in the cities of Judah and men of war, mighty men of valour, in Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And these are the numbers of them according to the houses of their fathers: In Judah, princes of thousands; the prince Adnah and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valour;

¹⁵ and after him, Prince Jehohanan and with him two hundred and eighty thousand;

¹⁶ after him, Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto the LORD and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour;

¹⁷ of Benjamin, Eliada, a mighty man of valour, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield;

¹⁸ after him, Jehozabad and with him one hundred and eighty thousand ready and prepared for the war.

¹⁹ These were servants of the king, besides those whom the king had put in the fenced cities throughout all Judah.