Historical

Azariah speaks to Asa

15 God's Spirit came to Oded's son Azariah. ² Azariah went to meet King Asa. He said to him, ‘Listen to me Asa and all you people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord will be with you while you are faithful to him. If you ask him for help, he will answer you. But if you turn away from him, he will turn away from you. ³ For a long time, the Israelites did not serve the true God. They did not have any priests to teach them what was right. They did not know God's law. ⁴ But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord, Israel's God. They asked him to help them and he answered them. ⁵ At that time it was not safe to travel very far. There was too much trouble among the people of other countries. ⁶ One nation would attack and destroy another nation. The people of one city destroyed other cities. God caused all this trouble to happen to those people. ⁷ But you must be strong. Continue to be brave. God will make your work successful.’

⁸ Asa felt strong again when he heard God's message from Azariah, son of the prophet Oded. He removed the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin. He also removed them from the towns that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the Lord's altar that was in the yard at the front of the Lord's temple.

Asa brings all the people together in Jerusalem

⁹ Then King Asa brought all the people together who belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He also brought people from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had come to live in Judah. Many people from the other tribes of Israel had come to Judah to serve King Asa. They had seen that the Lord his God was with him to help him.

¹⁰ All these people met together in Jerusalem in the 15th year after Asa had become king. They met in the third month of the year. ¹¹ At that time they offered many animals to the Lord as sacrifices. They were animals that they had taken from their enemies. There were 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep. ¹² They made a serious promise that they would faithfully serve the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹³ If anyone refused to worship the Lord, Israel's God, they would punish that person with death. They agreed to do that, whoever the person was, young or old, male or female. ¹⁴ As they made this promise to the Lord, they shouted loudly to show that they agreed. They also made a loud noise with trumpets and sheep's horns. ¹⁵ All Judah's people were happy to make this promise, because they truly wanted to serve the Lord. They wanted him to help them and he answered them.

After that, the Lord made them safe from their enemies all around them.

Asa punishes Maakah because she worshipped idols

¹⁶ King Asa also told his grandmother Maakah that she could no longer have authority as the Queen Mother.^[a] This was because she had made a disgusting Asherah pole to worship. Asa cut down the Asherah pole and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{[b] 17} Asa did not remove the altars on all the hills in Israel, but he served the Lord faithfully for his whole life. ¹⁸ He brought into God's temple the things that he and his father had made as gifts for God. They used silver and gold to make some of these things.

¹⁹ There were no more wars in Judah until Asa had been king for 35 years.

King Baasha of Israel attacks Judah

16 After Asa had been king of Judah for 36 years, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah.^[c] He put a group of his soldiers in Ramah and he made it a strong town. As a result, nobody could travel into Judah or out of Judah, where King Asa ruled.^[d]

² Then Asa took all the silver and gold that they had stored in the Lord's temple and in the king's palace. He sent it to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. ³ He also sent this message to Ben-Hadad: ‘We should make an agreement to be friends, as our fathers did. I am sending you this silver and gold. Please stop being friends with Baasha, king of Israel. If you no longer help him, he will have to take his soldiers out of my country.’

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa asked him to do. He sent his army with its leaders to attack towns in Israel. They won the battles at Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim and all the cities of Naphtali's tribe where they stored things. ⁵ When King Baasha heard this news, he stopped the work in Ramah and he went away. ⁶ Then King Asa told all the men in Judah to do some hard work. They had to carry away from Ramah all the big stones and the wood that Baasha had been using there. Then King Asa used those things to make Geba and Mizpah strong towns again.

Hanani warns King Asa

⁷ At that time, the prophet Hanani went to visit Asa, king of Judah. He said to him, ‘You asked the king of Syria to help you. You should have trusted the Lord your God to help you instead. Because of that, the army of Syria's king has escaped from your power. ⁸ The armies of Ethiopia and Libya were very large. They had lots of chariots and soldiers who rode on horses. But you trusted the Lord when they attacked you, and he put them under your power. ⁹ The Lord carefully watches over the whole earth. If people serve him faithfully, he makes them strong. But you have done a foolish thing. As a result, you will now always be fighting wars.’

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the prophet, so he put him in prison. At that time Asa also started to do cruel things to some people.

Asa dies

¹¹ All the things that happened while Asa was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of the kings of Judah and Israel’. ¹² When Asa had been king for 39 years, he had a disease in his feet. He became very ill, but he did not ask the Lord to help him. Instead, he asked doctors to make him better.

¹³ Asa died when he had been king for 41 years. ¹⁴ His people buried him in the grave that he had prepared for himself in the City of David. They put him on a special bed that had spices and different kinds of perfume on it. They burned a large fire to give him honour.

Jehoshaphat rules Judah as king

17 Asa's son Jehoshaphat became the next king of Judah. He made his kingdom strong to fight against Israel. ² He put soldiers in all Judah's cities that had walls around them and in other places in Judah. He also put soldiers in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken power over.

³ Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord as his ancestor David had done when he first ruled as king. So the Lord was with him to help him. Jehoshaphat did not worship the idols of Baal. ⁴ Instead, he served the God that his father had served. He obeyed the Lord's commands. He did not do the wrong things that Israel's people did. ⁵ The Lord gave Jehoshaphat power over the kingdom of Judah. All Judah's people brought gifts to him. So Jehoshaphat became rich and people respected him. ⁶ He served the Lord with all his strength. He removed from Judah the altars on the hills and the Asherah poles.

⁷ In the third year that Jehoshaphat ruled Judah as king, he sent his officers to teach people in all Judah's towns. The names of those officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. ⁸ He sent these Levites to go with them: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests, Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ These men travelled everywhere in Judah to teach people. They took with them the book which was a copy of the Lord's law. They used it to teach people in all Judah's towns.

Jehoshaphat becomes very strong as king

¹⁰ The people in all the kingdoms around Judah were afraid of the Lord's power. So they did not want to fight a war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some Philistines brought silver and other gifts to Jehoshaphat to make him happy. People from Arabia also brought gifts to him. They brought 7,700 male sheep and 7,700 male goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built strong buildings and places to store things everywhere in Judah. ¹³ He kept lots of things in Judah's towns. He had a big army of strong, brave soldiers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ These are the groups of the soldiers in each clan:

From Judah's tribe, the officer who led the soldiers was Adnah. He had authority over 300,000 soldiers, in groups of 1,000.

¹⁵ The next officer was Jehohanan. He had authority over 280,000 soldiers.

¹⁶ After him, the next officer was Zikri's son, Amasiah. He himself chose to serve the Lord in this way. He had authority over 200,000 soldiers.

¹⁷ From Benjamin's tribe, the officer who led the soldiers was Eliada, a brave soldier. He had authority over 200,000 soldiers who had bows and arrows, as well as shields.

¹⁸ After him, the next officer was Jehozabad. He had authority over 180,000 soldiers who had their weapons ready to fight.

¹⁹ All these men served as the king's soldiers in Jerusalem. He also had soldiers that he put in Judah's other strong cities.

King Jehoshaphat becomes a friend of King Ahab

18 Jehoshaphat became very rich. People respected him very much. His son married Ahab's daughter, so he and Ahab became friends. ² After some years, he went to visit Ahab in Samaria.^[e] Ahab killed many sheep and cows to give honour to Jehoshaphat and the people who were with him. Ahab wanted to attack Ramoth Gilead, so he asked Jehoshaphat to help him.

³ King Ahab of Israel said to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, ‘Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?’ Jehoshaphat replied, ‘Yes, we should work together! Use my soldiers as if they belonged to you. My army will join with your army in the war.’ ⁴ Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, ‘Before we go to fight, we must ask the Lord what we should do.’

⁵ So the king of Israel brought together 400 prophets. He asked them, ‘Should we attack Ramoth Gilead, or not?’ They answered, ‘Yes, go and attack it, because the God will give it to you, our king.’

⁶ But Jehoshaphat then asked, ‘Is there any other prophet of the Lord that we could ask?’^[f]

⁷ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one man. We could ask him what the Lord wants us to do. But I do not like him, because he never says that anything good will happen to me. He always says that I will have trouble. He is Imlah's son, Micaiah.’

Jehoshaphat said, ‘The king should not talk like that.’

⁸ So the king of Israel said to one of his officers, ‘Bring Imlah's son Micaiah here quickly.’

⁹ The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were each sitting on their thrones. They were wearing their royal clothes. They sat near the threshing floor at Samaria's city gate.^[g] All the prophets stood in front of them and they were speaking messages from God. ¹⁰ Kenaanah's son Zedekiah had used iron to make sharp points like a bull's horns. He said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “With these sharp horns you will attack Syria's army. You will destroy them all.” ’^[h]

¹¹ All the other prophets were speaking the same message. They said, ‘Attack Ramoth Gilead. You will win the fight. The Lord will give the city to you, our king.’

¹² The man who had gone to fetch Micaiah said to him, ‘All the other prophets are saying the same thing. They say that the king will win the fight. So you must agree with what they are saying. Promise that something good will happen.’

¹³ But Micaiah said, ‘I can only speak what my God tells me to say. As surely as the Lord lives, that is what I must do.’

¹⁴ When Micaiah arrived, the king asked him, ‘Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?’

Micaiah answered, ‘Yes, attack it. You will surely win the fight. You will take power over the city.’

¹⁵ Then King Ahab said to Micaiah, ‘I have already told you many times to tell me only what is true! You must promise to do this in the name of the Lord!’

¹⁶ Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw the whole army of Israel and they were walking about on the hills without any leader. They were like sheep with no shepherd as their guide. The Lord told me, “These people have no master. They should go home quietly and they should not fight.” ’

¹⁷ The king of Israel said to King Jehoshaphat, ‘I told you what he would say! He never says that anything good will happen to me. He only says that I will have trouble.’

¹⁸ Then Micaiah said, ‘So now listen to the Lord's message! I saw the Lord as he was sitting on his throne. The great crowd of his angels in heaven were standing around him, on his right side and on his left side. ¹⁹ The Lord asked, “Who will go and deceive King Ahab of Israel so that he attacks Ramoth Gilead and he dies there?” Many of the angels suggested different things. ²⁰ Then a spirit came and stood in front of the Lord. The spirit said, “I will deceive Ahab.”

The Lord asked, “How will you do it?” ²¹ The spirit said, “I will give a message to all Ahab's prophets. I will cause them to speak lies.” The Lord said, “Go and deceive King Ahab, as you have said. He will do what you say.”

²² So you see what has happened. The Lord has sent a spirit to these prophets who serve you. This spirit has caused them to speak lies. The Lord has decided that terrible trouble will come on you.’

²³ Then Kenaanah's son Zedekiah went to Micaiah. He hit Micaiah on his face. He asked Micaiah, ‘Do you say that the Lord's spirit has gone away from me and has spoken to you instead? How did he do that?’

²⁴ Micaiah answered him, ‘One day, you will know which of us has spoken the truth. That will be the day that you go to hide in a room at the back of a house.’^[i]

²⁵ Then the king of Israel said to his men, ‘Take hold of Micaiah. Take him back to Amon, the city officer, and to Joash, the king's son. ²⁶ Say to them, “The king commands you to put this man in prison. Feed him with only a little bread and water until I return safely from the battle.” ’

²⁷ Micaiah said, ‘If you do return safely, it will show that I have not spoken the Lord's message.’ Then he said to all the people who were there, ‘Remember what I have said to King Ahab!’

Ahab and Jehoshaphat go to fight at Ramoth Gilead

²⁸ So King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to attack Ramoth Gilead. ²⁹ King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, ‘When we go into the battle, I will wear ordinary clothes. People will not recognize me as the king. But you should wear your royal clothes.’ So the king of Israel went into the battle as if he was an ordinary soldier.

³⁰ But the king of Syria had said to his chariot officers, ‘Only fight the king of Israel. Do not fight against anyone else, whoever they are.’ ³¹ The chariot officers saw King Jehoshaphat in his royal clothes. So they thought, ‘That is the king of Israel!’ They turned towards him to attack him. Jehoshaphat shouted out and the Lord helped him. God caused the officers to turn away from him. ³² The chariot officers realized that he was not the king of Israel. So they did not chase him any more.

³³ Then a Syrian soldier shot an arrow into the air. He did not try to shoot at anyone, but the arrow hit the king of Israel. The arrow went through a space in the king's armour. The king commanded the man who drove his chariot, ‘Turn the chariot around. Take me away from the battle. An arrow has hit me.’ ³⁴ The soldiers fought the battle all day. While they were fighting, King Ahab sat in his chariot where he could see the Syrian soldiers. Then, at sunset, he died.