Historical

19 As King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home, uninjured, ² the prophet Jehu (son of Hanani) went out to meet him.

“Should you be helping the wicked, and loving those who hate the Lord?” he asked him. “Because of what you have done, God’s wrath is upon you. ³ But there are some good things about you in that you got rid of the shameful idols throughout the land, and you have tried to be faithful to God.”

⁴ So Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that but remained quietly at Jerusalem. Later he went out again among the people, traveling from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim to encourage them to worship the God of their ancestors. ⁵ He appointed judges throughout the nation in all the larger cities, ⁶ and instructed them:

“Watch your step—I have not appointed you—God has; and he will stand beside you and help you give justice in each case that comes before you. ⁷ Be very much afraid to give any other decision than what God tells you to. For there must be no injustice among God’s judges, no partiality, no taking of bribes.”

⁸ Jehoshaphat set up courts in Jerusalem, too, with the Levites and priests and clan leaders and judges. ⁹ These were his instructions to them: “You are to act always in the fear of God, with honest hearts. ¹⁰ Whenever a case is referred to you by the judges out in the provinces, whether murder cases or other violations of the laws and ordinances of God, you are to clarify the evidence for them and help them to decide justly, lest the wrath of God come down upon you and them; if you do this, you will discharge your responsibility.”

¹¹ Then he appointed Amariah the High Priest to be the court of final appeal in cases involving violation of sacred affairs; and Zebadiah (son of Ishmael), a ruler in Judah, as the court of final appeal in all civil cases; with the Levites as their assistants. “Be fearless in your stand for truth and honesty. And may God use you to defend the innocent,” was his final word to them.

20 Later on the armies of the kings of Moab, Ammon, and of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. ² Word reached Jehoshaphat that “a vast army is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea from Syria. It is already at Hazazon-tamar” (also called Engedi). ³ Jehoshaphat was badly shaken by this news and determined to beg for help from the Lord; so he announced that all the people of Judah should go without food for a time, in penitence and intercession before God. ⁴ People from all across the nation came to Jerusalem to plead unitedly with him. ⁵ Jehoshaphat stood among them as they gathered at the new court of the Temple and prayed this prayer:

⁶ “O Lord God of our fathers—the only God in all the heavens, the ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth—you are so powerful, so mighty. Who can stand against you? ⁷ O our God, didn’t you drive out the heathen who lived in this land when your people arrived? And didn’t you give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? ⁸ Your people settled here and built this Temple for you, ⁹ truly believing that in a time like this—whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or famine—we can stand here before this Temple and before you—for you are here in this Temple—and cry out to you to save us; and that you will hear us and rescue us.

¹⁰ “And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You wouldn’t let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so we went around and didn’t destroy them. ¹¹ Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land which you have given us. ¹² O our God, won’t you stop them? We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We don’t know what to do, but we are looking to you.”

¹³ As the people from every part of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, ¹⁴ the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there—Jahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, who was one of the sons of Asaph).

¹⁵ “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, and you, O king Jehoshaphat!” he exclaimed. “The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid! Don’t be paralyzed by this mighty army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s! ¹⁶ Tomorrow, go down and attack them! You will find them coming up the slopes of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ But you will not need to fight! Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem! Don’t be afraid or discouraged! Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!’”

¹⁸ Then King Jehoshaphat fell to the ground with his face to the earth, and all the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the Kohath clan and the Korah clan stood to praise the Lord God of Israel with songs of praise that rang out strong and clear.

²⁰ Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and called them to attention. “Listen to me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem,” he said. “Believe in the Lord your God and you shall have success! Believe his prophets and everything will be all right!”

²¹ After consultation with the leaders of the people, he determined that there should be a choir leading the march, clothed in sanctified garments and singing the song “His Loving-Kindness Is Forever” as they walked along praising and thanking the Lord! ²² And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other! ²³ For the Ammonites and Moabites turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. And when they had finished that job, they turned against each other! ²⁴ So, when the army of Judah arrived at the watchtower that looks out over the wilderness, as far as they could look there were dead bodies lying on the ground—not a single one of the enemy had escaped. ²⁵ King Jehoshaphat and his people went out to plunder the bodies and came away loaded with money, garments, and jewels stripped from the corpses—so much that it took them three days to cart it all away! ²⁶ On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, as it is called today, and how they praised the Lord!

²⁷ Then they returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that the Lord had given them this marvelous rescue from their enemies. ²⁸ They marched into Jerusalem accompanied by a band of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple. ²⁹ And as had happened before, when the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God fell upon them. ³⁰ So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was quiet, for his God had given him rest.

³¹ A thumbnail sketch of King Jehoshaphat: He became king of Judah when he was thirty-five years old and reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. ³² He was a good king, just as his father Asa was. He continually tried to follow the Lord ³³ with the exception that he did not destroy the idol shrines on the hills, nor had the people as yet really decided to follow the God of their ancestors.

³⁴ The details of Jehoshaphat’s reign from first to last are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

³⁵ But at the close of his life, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went into partnership with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who was a very wicked man. ³⁶ They made ships in Ezion-geber to sail to Tarshish. ³⁷ Then Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, telling him, “Because you have allied yourself with King Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your work.” So the ships met disaster and never arrived at Tarshish.

21 When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in the cemetery of the kings in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah. ² His brothers—other sons of Jehoshaphat—were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. ^3-4 Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of money and jewels, also the ownership of some of the fortified cities of Judah. However, he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the oldest. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all of his brothers and many other leaders of Israel. ⁵ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ But he was as wicked as the kings who were over in Israel. Yes, as wicked as Ahab, for Jehoram had married one of the daughters of Ahab, and his whole life was one constant binge of doing evil. ⁷ However, the Lord was unwilling to end the dynasty of David, for he had made a covenant with David always to have one of his descendants upon the throne.

⁸ At that time the king of Edom revolted, declaring his independence of Judah. ⁹ Jehoram attacked him with his full army and with all of his chariots, marching by night, and almost^[a] managed to subdue him. ¹⁰ But to this day Edom has been successful in throwing off the yoke of Judah. Libnah revolted too because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord God of his fathers. ¹¹ What’s more, Jehoram constructed idol shrines in the mountains of Judah and led the people of Jerusalem in worshiping idols; in fact, he compelled his people to worship them.

¹² Then Elijah the prophet wrote him this letter: “The Lord God of your ancestor David says that because you have not followed in the good ways of your father Jehoshaphat, nor the good ways of King Asa, ¹³ but you have been as evil as the kings over in Israel and have made the people of Jerusalem and Judah worship idols just as in the times of King Ahab, and because you have killed your brothers who were better than you, ¹⁴ now the Lord will destroy your nation with a great plague. You, your children, your wives, and all that you have will be struck down. ¹⁵ You will be stricken with an intestinal disease and your bowels will rot away.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord stirred up the Philistines and the Arabs living next to the Ethiopians to attack Jehoram. ¹⁷ They marched against Judah, broke across the border, and carried away everything of value in the king’s palace, including his sons and his wives; only his youngest son, Jehoahaz, escaped.

¹⁸ It was after this that Jehovah struck him down with the incurable bowel disease. ¹⁹ In the process of time, at the end of two years, his intestines came out, and he died in terrible suffering. (The customary pomp and ceremony was omitted at his funeral.) ²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and died unmourned. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery.