2 Chronicles 16–17

ASA’S TREATY WITH ARAM

16In the thirty-sixth year of Asa,^q Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. ²So 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.”

⁴Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies to the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶Then 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

⁷At that time, the seer Hanani^r 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,^s the army of the king of Aram has escaped from you. ⁸Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen?^t When you depended on the Lord, he handed them over to you.^{u 9}For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth^v to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him.^w You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.” ¹⁰Asa was enraged with the seer and put him in prison^A because of his anger over this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at that time.

ASA’S DEATH

¹¹Note that the events^x of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²In 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. ¹³Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴He 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;^a then they made a great fire in his honor.^b

JUDAH’S KING JEHOSHAPHAT

17His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place^c and strengthened himself against Israel. ²He stationed troops in every fortified city of Judah^d and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.^e

³Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father David.^B He did not seek the Baals ⁴but sought the God of his father and walked by his commands, not according to the practices of Israel.^{f 5}So the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. Then all Judah brought him tribute, and he had riches and honor in abundance.^{g 6}He took great pride in the Lord’s ways, and he again^h removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.ⁱ

JEHOSHAPHAT’S EDUCATIONAL PLAN

⁷In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials—Ben-hail,^C Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah—to teach in the cities of Judah.^{j 8}The Levites with them were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah,^D Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; the priests, Elishama and Jehoram, were with these Levites. ⁹They taught throughout Judah, having the book of the Lord’s instruction with them.^k They went throughout the towns of Judah and taught the people.

¹⁰The terror of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah,^l so they didn’t fight against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹Some of the Philistines also brought gifts and silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat, and the Arabs brought him flocks: 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.^m

JEHOSHAPHAT’S MILITARY MIGHT

¹²Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger. He built fortressesⁿ and storage cities in Judah ¹³and carried out great works in the towns of Judah. He had fighting men, valiant warriors, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴These are their numbers according to their ancestral families.^A For Judah, the commanders of thousands:

Adnah the commander and three hundred thousand valiant warriors with him;

¹⁵next to him, Jehohanan the commander and two hundred eighty thousand with him;

¹⁶next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, the volunteer^o of the Lord, and two hundred thousand valiant warriors with him;

¹⁷from Benjamin, Eliada, a valiant warrior, and two hundred thousand with him armed with bow and shield;

¹⁸next to him, Jehozabad and one hundred eighty thousand with him equipped for war.

¹⁹These were the ones who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.^p