2 Chronicles 13–16

Chapter 13

Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam

^1aIn the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^aNow there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³Abijah began the battle with an army of valiant warriors, 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with 800,000 chosen men who were valiant warriors.

Civil War

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount ^aZemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵“Do you not know that ^athe Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David ¹and his sons by ^ba covenant of salt?

⁶“Yet ^aJeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ¹master,

⁷and worthless men gathered about him, scoundrels, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ^1ahe was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.

⁸“So now you intend to resist the kingdom of the Lord ¹through the sons of David, ²being a great multitude and having with you ^athe golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you.

⁹“^aHave you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^bto consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of what are ^cno gods.

¹⁰“But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the Lord as priests, and the Levites ¹attend to their work.

¹¹“Every morning and evening ^athey ¹burn to the Lord burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^bthe showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him.

¹²“Now behold, God is with us at our head and ^aHis priests with the signal trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³But Jeroboam ^ahad set an ambush to come from the rear, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴When Judah turned around, behold, ¹they were attacked both front and rear; so ^athey cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, then it was that God ^1arouted Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶When the sons of Israel fled before Judah, ^aGod gave them into their hand.

¹⁷Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah ¹conquered ^abecause they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages and ¹Ephron with its villages.

Death of Jeroboam

²⁰Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the ^aLord struck him and ^bhe died.

²¹But Abijah became powerful; and took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^athe ¹treatise of ^bthe prophet Iddo.

Chapter 14

Asa Succeeds Abijah in Judah

^11aSo Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.

²¹Asa did good and right in the sight of the Lord his God,

³for he removed ^athe foreign altars and ^bhigh places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the ^1cAsherim,

⁴and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment.

⁵He also removed the high places and the ^aincense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.

^6aHe built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and ¹there was no one at war with him during those years, ^bbecause the Lord had given him rest.

⁷For he said to Judah, “^aLet us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ¹ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸Now Asa had an army of ^a300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

⁹Now Zerah the Ethiopian ^acame out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to ^bMareshah.

¹⁰So Asa went out ¹to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa ^acalled to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, ^bfor we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

¹²So ^athe Lord ¹routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^aGerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ¹they could not recover, for they were shattered before the Lord and before His army. And they carried away very much plunder.

¹⁴They ¹destroyed all the cities around Gerar, ^afor the dread of the Lord had fallen on them; and they despoiled all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.

¹⁵They also struck down ¹those who owned livestock, and they carried away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15

The Prophet Azariah Warns Asa

¹Now ^athe Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded,

²and he went out ¹to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^athe Lord is with you when you are with Him. And ^bif you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

³“^aFor many days Israel was without the true God and without ^ba teaching priest and without law.

⁴“But ^ain their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.

⁵“^aIn those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances ¹afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶“^aNation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.

⁷“But you, ^abe strong and do not ¹lose courage, for there is ^breward for your work.”

Asa’s Reforms

⁸Now when Asa heard these words and the ¹prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ^athe cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. ^bHe then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord.

⁹He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon ^awho resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

^11aThey sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought.

^12aThey entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;

¹³and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ^ashould be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

¹⁴Moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets and with horns.

¹⁵All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him ¹earnestly, and He let them find Him. So ^athe Lord gave them rest on every side.

^16aHe also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made a horrid image ¹as ^ban Asherah, and ^cAsa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days.

¹⁸He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver and gold and utensils.

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

Chapter 16

Asa Wars against Baasha

¹In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign ^aBaasha king of Israel came up against Judah and ¹fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,

³“Let there be a treaty between ¹you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they ¹conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all ^athe ²store cities of Naphtali.

⁵When Baasha heard of it, he ceased ¹fortifying Ramah and stopped his work.

⁶Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he ¹fortified Geba and Mizpah.

Asa Imprisons the Prophet

⁷At that time ^aHanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “^bBecause you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand.

⁸“Were not ^athe Ethiopians and the Lubim ^ban immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^cbecause you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.

⁹“For ^athe eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may…