2 Chronicles 13–16

Abijah and Civil War

13In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah reigned over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.

Now there was war between Abijah and between Jeroboam. ³And Abijah joined in the battle with an army of four hundred thousand battle-hardened warriors,^a chosen men, and Jeroboam put the battle in order against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, an army of mighty warriors.

⁴Then Abijah stood up on top of Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵Do you not all know that Yahweh the God of Israel gave the kingdom to David over Israel forever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master, ⁷and worthless men, sons of wickedness,^b were gathered about him and became hostile against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was a boy and gentle of heart and was not strong enough to stand before them. ⁸So now you yourselves are considering that you are strong before the kingdom of Yahweh which is in the hand of the sons of David, since you yourselves are a great multitude and you have bull calves of gold that Jeroboam has made for idols. ⁹Did you not drive out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, the Levites? Have you not made for yourselves priests like all the peoples of the lands? All who come to be consecrated for priestly service^c with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what is not a god. ¹⁰But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests serving Yahweh are the sons of Aaron, the Levites, according to their service. ¹¹They offer burnt offerings to Yahweh every morning^d and every evening,^e sweet spices of incense, and the rows of bread upon the pure table. And the golden lampstand with its lamps they keep kindled every evening,^f for we are keeping the requirement of Yahweh our God, but you yourselves have forsaken him. ¹²And look, God is with us at the head, and his priests have the trumpets for sounding blasts against you, O sons of Israel. Do not fight against Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^g for you will not succeed.”

¹³Then Jeroboam sent around an ambush to come behind them. So they were in front of Judah, but the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴When Judah turned, then behold, the battle against them was in front and behind, and they cried to Yahweh, and the priests blew on the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah shouted, and it happened that when the men of Judah were shouting, then God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the Israelites^h fled from before Judah, and God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people struck a great blow against them, and the dead from Israel that fell were five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸And the Israelitesⁱ were subdued at that time, and the people^j of Judah were victorious, for they relied upon Yahweh the God of their ancestors.^k

¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages. ²⁰And Jeroboam did not regain strength again in the days of Abijah. And Yahweh plagued him and he died. ²¹But Abijah became strong, and he took to himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²Now the rest of the words of Abijah and his ways and his words are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

The Reign of Asa in Judah

14^a And Abijah slept with his ancestors,^b and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son became king in his place. In his days the land was at rest ten years. ²Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God. ³He removed the foreign altars and high places, broke down the stone pillars, and cut down the Asherahs. ⁴And he commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^c and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵And he removed the high places and the incense stands from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom had rest under^d him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land was at rest. Under^e him there was no war in those years, for Yahweh had given rest to him. ⁷And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates, and bars while the land is before us, because we have sought Yahweh our God. We have sought and he has given rest to us on every side.” So they built and had success. ⁸And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, bearing shields and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin who carried shields and drew bows. All of these were mighty warriors of strength.

⁹Zerah the Cushite came out against them with an army of a thousand thousands and three hundred chariots. And he came to Mareshah. ¹⁰And Asa went out before him, and a battle was put in order in the valley of Zepah at Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God. And he said, “O Yahweh, there is none with you to help between the great and the powerless. Help us, O Yahweh our God, for we rely upon you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, you are our God! Let no man prevail against you!”

¹²So Yahweh defeated the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites fled. ¹³Then Asa and the army^f with him pursued them to Gerar. And many from the Cushites fell, for they had no deliverance, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before his army. And they carried away much war booty. ¹⁴And they struck all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of Yahweh was upon them. And they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵And they also struck the tents of the herdsmen and carried away many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa’s Religious Reforms

15Now Azariah the son of Oded—the Spirit of God came upon him. ²And he went out before Asa and said to him, “Hear me, O Asa and all of Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him. And if you will seek him he will be found by you. But if you forsake him he will forsake you. ³Now Israel has been without the true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without law, ⁴but at its trouble he returned to Yahweh, the God of Israel. They sought him, and he was found by them. ⁵And in those times there was no peace for the one going out and the one coming in, for great tumults were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶Nation was crushed by nation, and city was against city, for God threw them into confusion by all sorts of trouble. ⁷But as for you, be strong and let not your hands be weak, for there is reward for your labor.”

⁸And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh.

⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them, from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. ¹⁰And they were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the war booty they brought back: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹²And they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^a with all their heart and with all their inmost being,^{b 13}but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women. ¹⁴And they took an oath to Yahweh with a great voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart. And they sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave rest to them all around.

¹⁶And also Maacah, the mother of Asa, the king removed her from being queen, because she had made a repulsive image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her repulsive image, and he crushed and burned it at the Wadi^c Kidron. ¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was fully devoted all his days. ¹⁸And he brought the holy objects of his father and his own holy objects into the house of God—silver and gold and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

The End of Asa’s Reign

16In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha the king of Israel went up against Judah. And he built Ramah in order not to allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the storehouses of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram,^a who lived in Damascus, saying, ³“There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he might withdraw from me.”

⁴And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent commanders of his troops that were with him against the cities of Israel. And they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵And it happened that when Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work. ⁶Then King Asa took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram,^b and since you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram^c escaped from your hand. ⁸Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with very…