2 Chronicles 16–17

Troubles with Israel

16In the 36th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah. ²So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple and the palace and sent it to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, with this message: ³“Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory.”

⁴Benhadad agreed to Asa’s proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the cities of Naphtali where supplies were stored. ⁵When King Baasha heard what was happening, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned the work. ⁶Then King Asa gathered men from throughout Judah and ordered them to carry off the stones and timber that Baasha had been using at Ramah, and they used them to fortify the cities of Geba and Mizpah.

The Prophet Hanani

⁷At that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said, “Because you relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Israel^a has escaped from you. ⁸Didn’t the Ethiopians^b and the Libyans have large armies with many chariot and horsemen? But because you relied on the Lord, he gave you victory over them. ⁹The Lord keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war.” ¹⁰This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.

The End of Asa’a Reign

¹¹All the events of Asa’s reign from beginning to end are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²In the 39th year that Asa was king, he was crippled by a severe foot disease; but even then he did not turn to the Lord for help, but to doctors. ¹³Two years later he died ¹⁴and was buried in the rock tomb which he had carved out for himself in David’s City. They used spices and perfumed oils to prepare his body for burial, and they built a huge bonfire to mourn his death.

Jehoshaphat Becomes King

17Jehoshaphat succeeded his father Asa as king and strengthened his position against Israel. ²He stationed troops in the fortified cities of Judah, in the Judean countryside, and in the cities which Asa had captured in the territory of Ephraim. ³The Lord blessed Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father’s early life and did not worship Baal. ⁴He served his father’s God, obeyed God’s commands, and did not act in the way the kings of Israel did. ⁵The Lord gave Jehoshaphat firm control over the kingdom of Judah, and all the people brought him gifts, so that he became wealthy and highly honoured. ⁶He took pride in serving the Lord and destroyed all the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah in Judah.

⁷In the third year of his reign he sent out the following officials to teach in the cities of Judah: Benhail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. ⁸They were accompanied by nine Levites and two priests. The Levites were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and the priests were Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹They took the book of the Law of the Lord and went through all the towns of Judah, teaching it to the people.

Jehoshaphat’s Greatness

¹⁰The Lord made all the surrounding kingdoms afraid to go to war against King Jehoshaphat. ¹¹Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat a large amount of silver and other gifts, and some Arabs brought him 7,700 sheep and 7,700 goats. ¹²So Jehoshaphat continued to grow more and more powerful. Throughout Judah he built fortifications and cities, ¹³where supplies were stored in huge amounts.

In Jerusalem he stationed outstanding officers, ¹⁴according to their clans. Adnah was the commander of the troops from the clans of Judah, and he had 300,000 soldiers under him. ¹⁵Second in rank was Jehohanan, with 280,000 soldiers, ¹⁶and third was Amasiah son of Zichri, with 200,000. (Amasiah had volunteered to serve the Lord.) ¹⁷The commander of the troops from the clans of Benjamin was Eliada, an outstanding soldier, in command of 200,000 men armed with shields and bows. ¹⁸His second in command was Jehozabad with 180,000 men, well equipped for battle. ¹⁹These men served the king in Jerusalem, and in addition he stationed other soldiers in the other fortified cities of Judah.