Chronological
19 And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned safely to his house in Jerusalem.
2 And Jehu, the son of Hanani the Seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Would you help the wicked, and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore, for this thing the wrath of the LORD is upon you.
3 “Nevertheless, good things are found in you, because you have taken away the groves out of the land and have prepared your heart to seek God.”
4 So, Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem and returned and went through the people, from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD God of their fathers.
5 And he set judges in the land throughout all the strong cities of Judah, city by city,
6 and said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do. For you do not execute the judgments of man, but of the LORD, and he will be with you in the cause and judgment.
7 “Therefore now, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Consider and do it. For there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor receiving of reward.”
8 Moreover, Jehoshaphat set some of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chiefs of the families of Israel for the judgment and cause of the LORD in Jerusalem. And they returned to Jerusalem.
9 And he charged them, saying, “Thus shall you do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with a perfect heart.
10 “And in every case that shall come to you from your brethren who dwell in your cities — between blood and blood, between Law and Precept, Statutes and Judgments — admonish them, so that they do not trespass against the LORD and wrath does not come upon you and upon your brethren. This shall you do and not trespass.
11 “And behold, Amariah the Priest, shall be the chief over you in all matters of the LORD. And Zebadiah, the son of Ishmael, a ruler of the House of Judah, shall be for all the king’s affairs. And the Levites shall be officers before you. Be courageous and do it! And the LORD shall be with the good.”
20 Also after this the children of Moab came, and the children of Ammon and some others besides the Ammonites, to do battle against Jehoshaphat.
2 Then some came who told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude comes against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram. And behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar.” (which is En Gedi)
3 And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 And Judah gathered themselves together to ask counsel of the LORD. They even came out of all the cities of Judah to inquire of the LORD.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the Congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the House of the LORD, in front of the new court,
6 and said, “O LORD God of our fathers! Are You not God in Heaven? And do You not reign over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Your Hand is power and might! And no one is able to withstand You.
7 “Did not You, our God, cast out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the seed of Abraham, Your friend, forever?
8 “And they dwelt in it, and have built You a Sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying,
9 ‘if misery comes upon us as the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this House, and in Your presence (for Your Name is in this House), and will cry to You in our tribulation. And You will hear and help.’
10 “And now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, by whom You would not let Israel go when they came out of the land of Egypt, they have turned aside from them and have not destroyed them.
11 “Behold, I say, they reward us by coming to cast us out of Your inheritance which You have caused us to inherit.
12 “O, our God! Will You not judge them? For there is no strength in us before this great multitude that comes against us, nor do we know what to do! But our eyes are toward You.”
13 And all Judah stood before the LORD with their young ones, their wives, and their children.
14 And Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, upon whom came the Spirit of the LORD, was in the midst of the Congregation.
15 And he said, “Listen all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Neither fear nor be afraid of this great multitude! For the battle is not yours, but God’s!
16 “Go down against them tomorrow. Behold, they come up by the cleft of Ziz. And you shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 “You shall not need to fight in this. Stand still. Do not move. And behold the salvation of the LORD towards you. O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be afraid! Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you!”
18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the earth. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
19 And the Levites of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 And when they arose early in the morning, they went forth to the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they departed, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Put your trust in the LORD your God, and you shall be established! Believe His Prophets and you shall prosper!”
21 And after he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD, and those who would praise in the beautiful Sanctuary by going forth before the men of arms, and saying, “Praise the LORD! For His mercy endures forever!”
22 And when they began to shout and to praise, the LORD laid ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah. And they were stricken.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, to kill and to destroy. And when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy each other.
24 And when Judah came toward Mizpah in the wilderness, they looked to the multitude. And behold, the carcasses had fallen to the earth. And no one escaped.
25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found abundance among them, in both goods and also bodies with precious jewels, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. It took them three days to gather the spoil; for it was large.
26 And on the fourth day, they assembled themselves in the Valley of Berachah; for they blessed the LORD there. Therefore, they call the name of that place “The Valley of Berachah” to this day.
27 Then, every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat, their leader, to go back to Jerusalem with joy. For the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.
28 And they came to Jerusalem, to the House of the LORD, with viols and with harps and with trumpets.
29 And the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the Earth after they had heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.
30 So, the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet. And his God gave him rest on every side.
31 And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah and was thirty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
32 And he walked in the way of Asa, his father, and did not depart from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD.
33 However, the high places were not taken away. For the people had not yet prepared their hearts to the God of their fathers.
34 Concerning the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of Jehu, the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
35 Still, after this, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, joined himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who was given to do evil.
36 And he joined with him to make ships to go to Tarshish. And they made the ships in Ezion Geber.
37 Then Eliezer, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has broken your works.” And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
21 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And Jehoram, his son, reigned in his place.
2 And he had brethren (the sons of Jehoshaphat): Azariah and Jehiel and Zechariah and Azariah and Michael and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.
3 And their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with strong cities in Judah. But he gave the kingdom to Jehoram; for he was the eldest.
4 And Jehoram rose up over the kingdom of his father and made himself strong and killed all his brethren with the sword, and also some of the other princes of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the House of Ahab had done. For he took the daughter of Ahab as a wife. And he wrought evil in the Eyes of the LORD.
7 However, the LORD would not destroy the House of David, because of the Covenant that He had made with David, and because He had promised to give a light to him and to his sons forever.
8 In his days, Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves.
9 And Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him. And he rose up by night and struck Edom (which had surrounded him) and the captains of the chariots.
10 So, Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then at the same time, Libnah rebelled from under his hand, because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.
11 Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah.
12 And a writing came to him from Elijah the Prophet, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of David your father: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat, your father, nor in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,
13 ‘but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, as the House of Ahab went a whoring, and have also killed your brethren of your father’s house (who were better than you),
14 ‘behold, the LORD will strike your people and your children and your wives and all your substance with a great plague. 15’And you shall be in great diseases in the disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out because of the disease, day by day.’”
16 So the LORD stirred up the spirit of the Philistines against Jehoram, and the Arabians (who were next to the Ethiopians).
17 And they came up into Judah and broke into it and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons, and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 And after all this, the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
19 And in process of time, after the end of two years, his guts fell out with his disease. So, he died of grave diseases. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.
20 When he began to reign, he was thirty-two years old. And he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years and lived without being desired. Still, they buried him in the City of David, but not among the sepulchers of the kings.
22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place. For the army that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the eldest. Therefore, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
2 Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.
3 He also walked in the ways of the House of Ahab. For his mother counseled him to do wickedly.
4 Therefore, he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the House of Ahab. For they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
5 And he walked after their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to fight against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth Gilead. And the Aramites struck Joram.
6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel, because of the wounds with which they had wounded him at Ramah when he fought with Hazael, king of Aram. Now Azariah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, at Jezreel, because he was diseased.
7 And the destruction of Ahaziah came from God, in that he went to Joram. For when he had come, he went forth with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the House of Ahab.
8 Therefore, when Jehu executed judgment upon the House of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah that waited on Ahaziah, he killed them also.
9 And he sought Ahaziah. And they caught him where he was hidden in Samaria and brought him to Jehu and killed him and buried him, “Because,” they said, “he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” So, the House of Ahaziah was not able to retain the kingdom.
10 Therefore, when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the king’s seed of the House of Judah.
11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were to be killed and put him and his nurse in the bed chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the Priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah) hid him from Athaliah. So, she did not kill him.
12 And he was hidden with them in the House of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
23 And in the seventh year, Jehoiada grew bold and took the captains of hundreds—Azariah the son of Jeroham and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan and Azariah the son of Obed and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri—into covenant with him.
2 And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel. And they came to Jerusalem.
3 And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the House of God. And he said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign, as the LORD has said of the sons of David.
4 “This is what you shall do. One third of you who come on the Sabbath, of the priests and the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the doors.
5 “And one third shall be at the king’s house, and one third at the gate of the foundation. And all the people shall be in the courts of the House of the LORD.
6 “But let no one come into the House of the LORD except the priests and the Levites who minister. They shall go in, for they are holy. But all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.
7 “And the Levites shall surround the king, all around, every man with his weapon in his hand. And whoever enters into the House shall be killed. And you are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
8 So, the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the Priest had commanded. And every man took his men who came in on the Sabbath along with those who went out on the Sabbath. For Jehoiada the Priest did not discharge the divisions.
9 And Jehoiada the Priest delivered spears to the captains of hundreds, and shields, and bucklers, which had been King David’s and were in the House of God.
10 And he had all the people stand (every man with his weapon in his hand) from the right side of the House to the left side of the House, by the Altar and by the House, all around the king.
11 Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown upon him and gave him the Testimony and made him King. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, “God save the king.”
12 But when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people, into the House of the LORD.
13 And when she looked, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance. And the princes and the trumpets were by the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced and blew the trumpets. And the singers were with instruments of music, and those who could sing praise. Then, Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! Treason!”
14 Then Jehoiada the Priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were governors of the army, and said to them, “Take her forth between the ranks! And let whoever follows her die by the sword!” For the Priest had said, “Do not kill her in the House of the LORD.”
15 So they laid hands on her. And when she had come to the entrance of the horse gate, by the king’s house, they killed her there.
16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king: that they would be the LORD’s people.
17 And all the people went to the house of Baal and destroyed and broke his altars and his images and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.
18 And Jehoiada appointed officers for the House of the LORD, under the hands of the priests and Levites, whom David had distributed for the House of the LORD, to offer Burnt Offerings to the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, by the appointment of David.
19 And he set gatekeepers by the gates of the House of the LORD, so that no one who was unclean in anything could enter.
20 And he took the captains of hundreds and the noblemen and the governors of the people and all the people of the land; and he had the king come down out of the House of the LORD. And they went through the High Gate of the king’s house and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
21 Then, all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet after they had killed Athaliah with the sword.
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