2 Chronicles 13–16

13TH CHAPTER

King Abijah’s War with King Jeroboam—1 Kings 15:1–8

¹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah began to rule Judah. ²He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Micaiah, daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. 

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 

³Abijah prepared for battle with an army of 400,000 of the best soldiers, while Jeroboam arranged to oppose him with 800,000 of the best professional soldiers. 

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the mountains of Ephraim. He called out, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! ⁵Don’t you know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom of Israel to David and his descendants forever in a permanent promise?^a6But Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) rebelled against his master. He had been the servant of David’s son Solomon. ⁷Worthless, good-for-nothing men gathered around him. They opposed Rehoboam, son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was too young and inexperienced to challenge them. ⁸Do you now intend to challenge the Lord’s kingdom, which has been placed in the hands of David’s descendants? You are a large crowd, and you have the gold calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. ⁹You forced out the Lord’s priests who were Aaron’s descendants, and you forced out the Levites so that you could appoint your own priests, as the people in foreign countries do. Anyone who has a young bull and seven rams can be ordained as a priest of nonexistent gods. 

¹⁰“However, the Lord is our God. We haven’t abandoned him. The priests who serve the Lord are Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites assist them. ¹¹They sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord every morning and every evening. They offer sweet-smelling incense and rows of bread on the clean^btable. The lamps on the gold lamp stand burn every evening. We’re following the instructions the Lord our God gave us, but you have abandoned him. ¹²God is with us as our leader. His priests will sound their trumpets to call ⸤the army⸥ to fight you. Men of Israel, don’t wage war against the Lord God of your ancestors. You won’t succeed.” 

¹³But Jeroboam had set an ambush to attack them from behind. So Jeroboam’s army was in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴When Judah’s soldiers looked around, the battle was in front of them and behind them. They cried out to the Lord, the priests blew the trumpets, ¹⁵and the men of Judah shouted. When they shouted, God attacked Jeroboam and all Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶The Israelites fled from Judah’s ⸤army⸥, and God handed them over to Judah. ¹⁷So Abijah and his men defeated them decisively, and 500,000 of the best men of Israel were killed. ¹⁸So the Israelites were humbled at that time, and the men of Judah won because they trusted the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some of his cities: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages. 

²⁰Jeroboam never regained power during Abijah’s time. The Lord caused Jeroboam to become sick, and Jeroboam died. 

²¹But Abijah became strong. He married 14 wives and fathered 22 sons and 16 daughters. 

²²Everything else about Abijah—how he lived and what he said—is written in the history by the prophet Iddo. 

14TH CHAPTER^a

¹Abijah lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king. In Asa’s time the land had peace for ten years. 

King Asa of Judah—1 Kings 15:9–15

²Asa did what the Lord his God considered good and right. 

³He got rid of the altars of foreign gods, broke down the sacred stones, and cut down the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ⁴He told the people of Judah to dedicate their lives to serving the Lord God of their ancestors and follow his teachings and commands. ⁵He got rid of the illegal places of worship and the altars for incense in all the cities of Judah. The kingdom was at peace during his reign. 

⁶He built fortified cities in Judah because the land had peace. There was no war during those years because the Lord gave him a time of peace. ⁷So Asa told Judah, “Let’s build these cities and make walls around them with towers and doors that can be barred. The country is still ours because we have dedicated our lives to serving the Lord our God. We have dedicated our lives to him, and he has surrounded us with peace.” So they built the cities, and everything went well. 

⁸Asa had an army of 300,000 Judeans who were armed with large shields and spears and 280,000 Benjaminites who were armed with small shields and bows. All of these men were good fighting men. 

⁹Then Zerah from Sudan came with 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots to attack Asa. Zerah got as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰Asa went to confront him, and the two armies set up their battle lines in the Zephathah Valley at Mareshah. 

¹¹Asa called on the Lord his God. He said, “Lord, there is no one except you who can help those who are not strong so that they can fight against a large ⸤army⸥. Help us, Lord our God, because we are depending on you. In your name we go against this large crowd. You are the Lord our God. Don’t let anyone successfully oppose you.” 

¹²The Lord attacked the Sudanese army in front of Asa and Judah. The Sudanese army fled. ¹³Asa and his troops pursued them as far as Gerar. Many of the Sudanese died in battle. As a result, the Sudanese army couldn’t fight again. It was crushed in front of the Lord and his army. The Lord’s army captured a lot of goods. ¹⁴It attacked all the cities around Gerar because the cities were afraid of the Lord. The army looted all the cities because there were many things to take. ¹⁵It also attacked those who were letting their cattle graze and captured many sheep and camels. Then it returned to Jerusalem. 

15TH CHAPTER

¹God’s Spirit came to Azariah, son of Oded. ²Azariah went to Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all you men from Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you will dedicate your lives to serving him, he will accept you. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. ³For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest who taught ⸤correctly⸥, and without Moses’ Teachings. ⁴But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord God of Israel. When they searched for him, he let them find him. ⁵At those times no one could come and go in peace, because everyone living in the land had a lot of turmoil. ⁶One nation crushed another nation; one city crushed another. God had tormented them with every kind of trouble. ⁷But you must remain strong and not become discouraged. Your actions will be rewarded.” 

⁸When Asa heard the prophet Oded’s words of prophecy, he was encouraged and put away the detestable idols from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the cities he had captured in the mountains of Ephraim. He also repaired the Lord’s altar in front of the Lord’s entrance hall. 

⁹Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin and the foreigners who had come from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. (Many of them had come to him from Israel when they saw that Asa’s God, the Lord, was with him.) ¹⁰In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, they gathered in Jerusalem. ¹¹On that day they sacrificed to the Lord a part of the loot they had brought with them: 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep. ¹²They made an agreement with one another to dedicate their lives to serving the Lord God of their ancestors with all their heart and soul. ¹³All people (young or old, male or female) who refused to dedicate their lives to the Lord God of Israel were to be killed. ¹⁴Asa and the people swore their oath to the Lord with shouts, singing, and the blowing of trumpets and rams’ horns. ¹⁵All the people of Judah were overjoyed because of the oath, since they took the oath wholeheartedly. They took great pleasure in looking for the Lord, and he let them find him. So the Lord surrounded them with peace. 

¹⁶King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷Although the illegal worship sites in Israel were not taken down, Asa remained committed ⸤to the Lord⸥ his entire life. ¹⁸He brought into God’s temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy. 

King Asa’s War with King Baasha—1 Kings 15:16–24

¹⁹There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. 

16TH CHAPTER

¹In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah. 

²Then Asa brought out all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad. ³He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me ⸤as⸥ there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.” 

⁴Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities in the territory of Naphtali. ⁵When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned his work on it. 

⁶Then King Asa took everyone in Judah ⸤to Ramah⸥. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah. 

⁷At that time the seer^aHanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Syria and did not depend on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped your grasp. ⁸Weren’t the Sudanese and Libyans a large army with many chariots and drivers? But when you depended on the Lord, he handed them over to you. ⁹The Lord’s eyes scan the whole world to find those whose hearts are committed to him and to…