2 Chronicles 13-17

2 Chronicles 13

¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

²Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³And Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor.

⁴And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵Ought ye not to know that Jehovah, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.

⁷And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them.

⁸And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.

⁹Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests after the manner of the peoples of [other] lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of [them that are] no gods.

¹⁰But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and [we have] priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work:

¹¹and they burn unto Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense: the showbread also [set they] in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him.

¹²And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.

¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried unto Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephron with the towns thereof.

²⁰Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and Jehovah smote him, and he died.

²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

2 Chronicles 14

¹So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

²And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God:

³for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim,

⁴and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest.

⁷For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

⁸And Asa had an army that bare bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

⁹And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah.

¹⁰Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, there is none besides thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Jehovah our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

¹²So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Jehovah, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty.

¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of Jehovah came upon them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them.

¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 15

¹And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

²and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

³Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:

⁴But when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

⁵And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity.

⁷But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.

⁸And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah.

⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.

¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

¹²And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;

¹³and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

¹⁴And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about.

¹⁶And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁹And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

2 Chronicles 16

¹In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

²Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

³[There is] a league between me and thee, as [there was] between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

⁴And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali.

⁵And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease.

⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.

⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand.

⁹For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

¹⁰Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

¹¹And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

¹²And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians.

¹³And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers' art: and they made a very great burning for him.

2 Chronicles 17

¹And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.

²And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.

³And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim,

⁴but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

⁵Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance.

⁶And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.

⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;

⁸and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.

⁹And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

¹⁰And the fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

¹¹And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats.

¹²And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store.

¹³And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers' houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valor three hundred thousand;

¹⁵and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand;

¹⁶and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor.

¹⁷And of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield;

¹⁸and next to him Jehozabad and with him a hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war.

¹⁹These were they that waited on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.