2 Chronicles 13–16

Abijah Reigns in Judah

13^zIn the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, ^yAbijah began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^aMicaiah¹ the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^bNow there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam ^cdrew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. ⁴Then Abijah stood up on Mount ^dZemaraim that is in ^ethe hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel ^fgave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by ^ga covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up ^hand rebelled against his lord, ⁷and certain ⁱworthless scoundrels² gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was ^jyoung and irresolute³ and could not withstand them.

⁸“And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you ^kthe golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. ^9lHave you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^mfor ordination⁴ with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are ⁿnot gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. ¹¹They offer to the Lord ^oevery morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out ^pthe showbread on the table of pure gold, ^qand care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may ^rburn every evening. For we ^skeep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him. ¹²Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests ^twith their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, ^udo not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

¹³Jeroboam had sent ^van ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops⁵ were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. ^wAnd they cried to the Lord, and the priests ^tblew the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, ^xGod defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶The men of Israel fled before Judah, ^yand God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, ^zbecause they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam ^aand took cities from him, Bethel with its villages and Jeshanah with its villages and ^bEphron⁶ with its villages. ²⁰Jeroboam did not recover his power in the days of Abijah. ^cAnd the Lord struck him down, ^dand he died. ²¹But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the ^estory of the prophet ^fIddo.

Asa Reigns in Judah

14^{1 g}Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. ²² And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³He took away the foreign altars ^hand the high places and broke down ⁱthe pillars and cut down the ^jAsherim ⁴and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵He also took out of all the cities of Judah ^hthe high places and the ^kincense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. ⁶He built ^lfortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, ^mfor the Lord gave him peace. ⁷And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with ⁿwalls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, ^mand he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army of ^o300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹Zerah ^pthe Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as ^qMareshah. ¹⁰And Asa went out to meet him, and ^rthey drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at ^qMareshah. ¹¹And Asa ^scried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, ^tfor we rely on you, ^uand in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” ^12vSo the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^wGerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah³ carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴And they attacked all the cities around ^wGerar, ^xfor the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa’s Religious Reforms

15^yThe Spirit of God came¹ upon Azariah the son of Oded, ²and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^zThe Lord is with you while you are with him. ^aIf you seek him, he will be found by you, ^bbut if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ^3cFor a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, ^4dbut when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵In those times there was no peace ^eto him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. ^7fBut you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ^gfor your work shall be rewarded.”

⁸As soon as Asa heard these words, ^hthe prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ⁱthe cities that he had taken in ^jthe hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^kthat was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.^{2 9}And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^land those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^mfrom the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. ¹²ⁿAnd they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, ¹³but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^oshould be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, ^pand the Lord gave them rest all around.

^16qEven Maacah, ^rhis mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^sfor Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^tcrushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. ^17uBut the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Asa’s Last Years

16^vIn the ^wthirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^xthat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³“There is a covenant¹ between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the ^ystore cities of Naphtali. ⁵And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. ⁶Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

⁷At that time ^zHanani ^athe seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^b“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. ⁸Were not ^cthe Ethiopians and ^dthe Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^ebecause you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. ^9fFor the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^gwhose heart is blameless² toward him. ^hYou have done foolishly in this, for from now on ⁱyou will have wars.” ¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^jin…