Historical

Asa’s Changes

15 The Spirit of God entered Azariah son of Oded. ² Azariah went to meet Asa. Azariah said, “Listen to me, Asa and all you people of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you obey the Lord, you will find him. But if you leave him, he will leave you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God. And they were without a priest to teach them and without the teachings. ⁴ But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord again. He is the God of Israel. They looked for the Lord and found him. ⁵ In those days no one could travel safely. There was much trouble in all the nations. ⁶ One nation would destroy another nation. And one city would destroy another city. This happened because God troubled them with all kinds of trouble. ⁷ But you should be strong. Don’t give up, because you will get a reward for your good work.”

⁸ Asa felt brave when he heard these words and the message from Azariah. Azariah was the son of Oded the prophet. So he removed the hated idols from all of Judah and Benjamin. And he removed them from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the Lord’s altar that was in front of the porch of the Temple of the Lord.

⁹ Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin. He also gathered the people of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who were living in Judah. Many people came to Asa from Israel. They came because they saw that the Lord, Asa’s God, was with him.

¹⁰ Asa and these people gathered in Jerusalem. This was in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats. Asa’s army had taken these animals and other valuable things from their enemies. ¹² Then they made an agreement. They promised to obey the Lord with their whole being. He is the God their ancestors served. ¹³ Anyone who refused to obey the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be killed. It did not matter if that person was important or unimportant. It did not matter if that person was a man or woman. ¹⁴ Then Asa and the people made a promise before the Lord. They shouted with a loud voice. They also blew on trumpets and sheep’s horns. ¹⁵ All the people of Judah were happy about the promise. They had promised with all their heart. They looked for God and found him. So the Lord gave them peace in all the country.

¹⁶ King Asa also removed Maacah, his mother, from being queen mother. He did this because she had made an Asherah idol, which the Lord hated. Asa cut down that idol and smashed it into pieces. Then he burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ The places of worship to false gods were not removed from Judah. Asa desired very much to obey the Lord all his life.

¹⁸ And Asa put the holy gifts that he and his father had given into the Temple of God. These things were made of silver and gold.

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

Asa’s Last Years

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, Baasha king of Israel attacked Judah. He went to the town of Ramah and made it strong. He used it to keep people from going in or out of the country of Judah.

² Asa took silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord. And he took silver and gold out of his own palace. Then he sent it with messengers to Ben-Hadad king of Aram. Ben-Hadad was living in Damascus. Asa’s message said: ³ “Let’s make an agreement between you and me. Let’s make it like the agreement between your father and mine. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your agreement with Baasha king of Israel. Then he will take his army away from my country.”

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa. So Ben-Hadad sent the commanders of his armies to attack the towns of Israel. These commanders defeated the towns of Ijon, Dan and Abel Beth Maacah. They also defeated all the towns in Naphtali where treasures were stored. ⁵ When Baasha heard about this, he stopped building Ramah. He left his work. ⁶ Then King Asa called all the men of Judah together. They went to Ramah and took away the rocks and wood that Baasha had used. And they used the rocks and wood to build up Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah. Hanani said to him, “You depended on the king of Aram to help you. You did not depend on the Lord your God. So the king of Aram’s army escaped from you. ⁸ The Cushites and Libyans had a large and powerful army. They had many chariots and horsemen. But you depended on the Lord to help you. So he let you defeat them. ⁹ The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to him. He wants to make them strong. Asa, you did a foolish thing. From now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with Hanani the seer because of what he had said. Asa was so angry that he put Hanani in prison. Asa was cruel with some of the people at that same time.

¹¹ The things Asa did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa got a disease in his feet. His disease was very bad. But he did not ask for help from the Lord. He only asked for help from the doctors. ¹³ Then Asa died in the forty-first year of his rule. ¹⁴ The people buried Asa in the tomb he had made for himself in Jerusalem. They laid him on a bed. It was filled with spices and different kinds of mixed perfumes. And they made a large fire to honor Asa.

Jehoshaphat King of Judah

17 Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became king of Judah in Asa’s place. Jehoshaphat made Judah strong so they could fight against Israel. ² He put troops in all the strong, walled cities of Judah. And he put troops in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim his father Asa had captured.

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he did good things. He lived as his father Asa did when he first became king. Jehoshaphat did not ask for help from the Baal idols. ⁴ He asked for help from the God his father had followed. He obeyed God’s commands. He did not live as the people of Israel lived. ⁵ The Lord made Jehoshaphat a strong king over Judah. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. So he had much wealth and honor. ⁶ He wanted very much to obey the Lord. He also removed the places for worshiping false gods and the Asherah idols from Judah.

⁷ Jehoshaphat sent his officers to teach in the towns of Judah. This happened in the third year of his rule. These officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. ⁸ Jehoshaphat sent with them these Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ These leaders, Levites and priests taught the people in Judah. They took the Book of the Teachings of the Lord with them. And they went through all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

¹⁰ The nations near Judah were afraid of the Lord. So they did not start a war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver to Jehoshaphat as forced payments. Some Arabs brought him flocks. They brought him 7,700 male sheep and 7,700 goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built strong, walled cities and storage towns in Judah. ¹³ He kept many supplies in the towns of Judah. And he kept trained soldiers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ These soldiers were listed by families.

From the families of Judah, these were the commanders of groups of 1,000 men: Adnah was the commander of 300,000 soldiers. ¹⁵ Jehohanan was the commander of 280,000 soldiers. ¹⁶ And Amasiah was the commander of 200,000 soldiers. Amasiah son of Zicri had volunteered to serve the Lord.

¹⁷ These were the commanders from the families of Benjamin: Eliada had 200,000 soldiers who used bows and shields. Eliada was a brave soldier. ¹⁸ And Jehozabad had 180,000 men armed for war.

¹⁹ All these soldiers served King Jehoshaphat. The king also put other men in the strong, walled cities through all of Judah.

Micaiah Warns King Ahab

18 Jehoshaphat had much wealth and honor. He made an agreement with King Ahab through marriage.^{[a] 2} A few years later Jehoshaphat visited Ahab in Samaria. Ahab sacrificed many sheep and cattle as a great feast to honor Jehoshaphat and the people with him. He encouraged Jehoshaphat to attack Ramoth in Gilead. ³ Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth in Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat answered, “I will be with you. And my soldiers will be like your own soldiers. We will join you in the battle.” ⁴ Jehoshaphat also said to Ahab, “But first we should ask the Lord to guide us.”

⁵ So King Ahab called a meeting of the prophets. There were 400 men. Ahab asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

They answered, “Go, because God will let you defeat it.”

⁶ But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there a prophet of the Lord here? If there is, let’s ask him what we should do.”

⁷ Then King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one other prophet. We could ask the Lord through him. But I hate him. When he prophesies, he never says anything good about me. He always says something bad. He is Micaiah, Imlah’s son.”

Jehoshaphat said, “King Ahab, you shouldn’t say that.”

⁸ So King Ahab told one of his officers to bring Micaiah to him at once.

⁹ King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah had on their royal robes. They were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor. This was near the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were speaking messages in front of the two kings. ¹⁰ One of the prophets was Zedekiah son of Kenaanah. He had made some iron horns. He said to Ahab, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will use these horns to fight the Arameans. And you will destroy them.’”

¹¹ All the other prophets said the same thing. They said, “Attack Ramoth in Gilead and win. The Lord will let you defeat the Arameans.”

¹² The messenger who had gone to get Micaiah found him. He said to Micaiah, “All the other prophets are saying the same thing. They are saying that King Ahab will win against the Arameans. You had better agree with them. Give the king a good answer.”

¹³ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”

¹⁴ Then Micaiah came to King Ahab. The king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

Micaiah answered, “Attack and win. You will defeat it.”

¹⁵ King Ahab said to Micaiah, “Tell me only the truth by the power of the Lord. How many times do I have to tell you this?”

¹⁶ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw the army of Israel. They were scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘They have no leaders. Let each one go home and not fight.’”

¹⁷ Then King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you! This prophet never says anything good about me. He only says bad things about me.”

¹⁸ But Micaiah continued to speak. He said, “Hear the message from the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. His heavenly army was standing on his right and on his left. ¹⁹ The Lord said, ‘Who will trick King Ahab of Israel into attacking Ramoth in Gilead? Do this so he will go and be killed.’ The spirits did not agree about what they should do. ²⁰ Then a spirit came and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will trick him.’ The Lord asked, ‘How will you do it?’ ²¹ The spirit answered, ‘I will go to Ahab’s prophets. I will make them tell lies.’ So the Lord said, ‘You will succeed in tricking him. Go and do it.’”

²² Micaiah said, “Ahab, this has now happened. The Lord has caused your prophets to lie to you. The Lord has decided that great trouble should come to you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up to Micaiah. And he slapped Micaiah in the face. Zedekiah said, “Do you really believe that the Lord’s Spirit has left me and is now speaking through you?”

²⁴ Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inside room.”

²⁵ Then King Ahab ordered, “Take Micaiah. Send him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son. ²⁶ Tell them I said to put Micaiah in prison. Give him only bread and water. Keep him there until I come back safely from the battle.”

²⁷ Micaiah said, “Ahab, if you come back safely from the battle, the Lord has not spoken through me. Remember my words, all you people!”

Ahab Is Killed

²⁸ So Ahab king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. ²⁹ King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will go into battle. But I will wear other clothes so no one will know who I am. But you wear your royal clothes.” So King Ahab of Israel wore other clothes and went into battle.

³⁰ The king of Aram gave an order to his chariot commanders. He said, “Don’t fight with anyone but the king of Israel. It doesn’t matter if they are important or unimportant.” ³¹ When these commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought he was the king of Israel. So they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat called out, and the Lord helped him. God made the chariot commanders turn away from Jehoshaphat. ³² When they saw he was not King Ahab, they stopped chasing him.

³³ By chance, a soldier shot an arrow. And it hit Ahab king of Israel. The arrow went in between the pieces of his armor. King Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and get me out of the battle. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁴ The battle went on all day. King Ahab held himself up in his chariot. He faced the Arameans until evening. Then Ahab died at sunset.