The Daily Audio Bible

14 ^1 [a]Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place.^(A) During his reign the land experienced peace for 10 years.

Judah’s King Asa

^2 [b]Asa did what was good and right^(B) in the sight of the Lord his God. ³ He removed the pagan altars and the high places. He shattered their sacred pillars and chopped down their Asherah poles.^{(C) 4} He told the people of Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors and to carry out the instruction and the commands. ⁵ He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah,^(D) and the kingdom experienced peace under him.

⁶ Because the land experienced peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah.^(E) No one made war with him in those days because the Lord gave him rest.^{(F) 7} So he said to the people of Judah, “Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars.^(G) The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God. We sought Him and He gave us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded.

The Cushite Invasion

⁸ Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah bearing large shields and spears,^(H) and 280,000 from Benjamin bearing regular shields and drawing the bow. All these were brave warriors. ⁹ Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of one million men and 300^[c] chariots. They came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.^(I)

¹¹ Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God:^(J) “Lord, there is no one besides You to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, Lord our God, for we depend on You,^(K) and in Your name we have come against this large army. Yahweh, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder You.”

¹² So the Lord routed the Cushites before Asa and before Judah,^(L) and the Cushites fled. ¹³ Then Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar.^(M) The Cushites fell until they had no survivors, for they were crushed before Yahweh and His army. So the people of Judah carried off a great supply of loot. ¹⁴ Then they attacked all the cities around Gerar because the terror of the Lord was on them.^(N) They also plundered all the cities, since there was a great deal of plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also attacked the tents of the herdsmen and captured many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Revival Under Asa

15 The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded.^{(O) 2} So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you^(P) when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you,^(Q) but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.^{(R) 3} For many years Israel has been without the true God,^(S) without a teaching priest, and without instruction,^{(T) 4} but when they turned to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and sought Him, He was found by them. ⁵ In those times there was no peace for those who went about their daily activities because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every possible distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong; don’t be discouraged,^[d] for your work has a reward.”^(U)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim.^(V) He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.^{(W) 9} Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.^(X)

¹⁰ They were gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep from all the plunder they had brought.^{(Y) 12} Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their mind and all their heart.^{(Z) 13} Whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be put to death, young or old,^[e] man or woman.^{(AA) 14} They took an oath to the Lord in a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with rams’ horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their mind. They had sought Him with all their heart, and He was found by them.^(AB) So the Lord gave them rest on every side.^(AC)

¹⁶ King Asa^(AD) also removed Maacah, his grandmother,^[f](AE) from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image, then crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{(AF) 17} The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted his entire life.^{[g] 18} He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into God’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

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

Asa’s Treaty with Aram

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa,^(AG) Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to deny access to anyone—going or coming—to Judah’s King Asa. ² So Asa brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent it to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “There’s a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies to the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim,^[h] and all the storage cities^[i] of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

Hanani’s Rebuke of Asa

⁷ At that time, Hanani^(AH) the seer came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the Lord your God,^(AI) the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen?^(AJ) When you depended on Yahweh, He handed them over to you.^{(AK) 9} For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout the earth^(AL) to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His.^(AM) You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.” ¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison^[j] because of his anger over this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Death

¹¹ Note that the events^(AN) of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a disease in his feet, and his disease became increasingly severe. Yet even in his disease he didn’t seek the Lord but only the physicians. ¹³ Asa died in the forty-first year of his reign and rested with his fathers. ¹⁴ He was buried in his own tomb that he had made for himself in the city of David. They laid him out in a coffin that was full of spices and various mixtures of prepared ointments;^(AO) then they made a great fire in his honor.^(AP)

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I speak the truth in Christ^(A)—I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit^[a]— ² that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. ³ For I could almost wish^(B) to be cursed^(C) and cut off^[b] from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood. ⁴ They are Israelites,^(D) and to them belong the adoption,^(E) the glory,^(F) the covenants,^(G) the giving of the law,^(H) the temple service,^(I) and the promises.^{(J) 5} The ancestors are theirs,^(K) and from them, by physical descent,^[c] came the Messiah,^(L) who is God^(M) over all,^(N) praised forever.^[d](O) Amen.

God’s Gracious Election of Israel

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed.^(P) For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^{(Q) 7} Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.^[e](R) On the contrary, your offspring will be traced^[f] through Isaac.^{(S)[g] 8} That is, it is not the children by physical descent^[h] who are God’s children,^(T) but the children of the promise^(U) are considered to be the offspring. ⁹ For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.^{(V)[i] 10} And not only that,^(W) but also Rebekah received a promise when she became pregnant^[j](X) by one man, our ancestor Isaac. ¹¹ For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—^{(Y) 12} not from works but from the One who calls—she was told: The older will serve the younger.^{(Z)[k] 13} As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.^(AA)[l]

God’s Selection Is Just

¹⁴ What should we say then?^(AB) Is there injustice with God?^(AC) Absolutely not!^{(AD) 15} For He tells Moses:

¹⁶ So then it does not depend on human will or effort^[n](AF) but on God who shows mercy.^{(AG) 17} For the Scripture tells Pharaoh:

¹⁸ So then, He shows mercy to those He wants to, and He hardens those He wants to harden.^(AI)

¹⁹ You will say to me,^(AJ) therefore, “Why then does He still find fault?^(AK) For who can resist His will?”^{(AL) 20} But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God?^(AM) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”^{(AN) 21} Or has the potter no right over the clay,^(AO) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? ²² And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience^(AP) objects of wrath ready for destruction?^{(AQ) 23} And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory^(AR) on objects of mercy^(AS) that He prepared beforehand for glory^(AT)— ²⁴ on us, the ones He also called,^(AU) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(AV)

Psalm 19

The Witness of Creation and Scripture

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.