2 Chronicles 20–21

Chapter 20

Judah Invaded

¹Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the ^1aMeunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.

²Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of ¹Aram and behold, they are in ^aHazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).”

³Jehoshaphat was afraid and ^1aturned his attention to seek the Lord, and ^bproclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

⁴So Judah gathered together to ^aseek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.

Jehoshaphat’s Prayer

⁵Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court,

⁶and he said, “O Lord, the God of our fathers, ^aare You not God in the heavens? And ^bare You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.

⁷“Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and ^agive it to the descendants of ^bAbraham Your friend forever?

⁸“They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying,

⁹‘^aShould evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for ^bYour name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’

¹⁰“Now behold, ^athe sons of Ammon and Moab and ¹Mount Seir, ^bwhom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them),

¹¹see how they are rewarding us by ^acoming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance.

¹²“O our God, ^awill You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but ^bour eyes are on You.”

¹³All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children.

Jahaziel Answers the Prayer

¹⁴Then in the midst of the assembly ^athe Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph;

¹⁵and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘^aDo not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for ^bthe battle is not yours but God’s.

¹⁶‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, ^astand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, ^bfor the Lord is with you.”

¹⁸Jehoshaphat ^abowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.

¹⁹The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Enemies Destroy Themselves

²⁰They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^aput your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.”

²¹When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who ^apraised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “^bGive thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

²²When they began singing and praising, the Lord ^aset ambushes against the sons of ^bAmmon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were ¹routed.

²³For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, ^athey helped to destroy one another.

²⁴When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.

²⁵When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, ¹garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much.

Triumphant Return to Jerusalem

²⁶Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore they have named that place “The Valley of ¹Beracah” until today.

²⁷Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, ^afor the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

²⁸They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres and trumpets to the house of the Lord.

²⁹And ^athe dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

³⁰So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, ^afor his God gave him rest on all sides.

^31aNow Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

³²He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not depart from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord.

^33aThe high places, however, were not removed; ^bthe people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first ¹to last, behold, they are written in the annals of ^aJehu the son of Hanani, which is ²recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

Alliance Displeases God

^35aAfter this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly ¹in so doing.

³⁶So he allied himself with him to make ships to go ^ato Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.

³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.” So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.

Chapter 21

Jehoram Succeeds Jehoshaphat in Judah

^1aThen Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

²He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, ¹Azaryahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king ^aof Israel.

³Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold and precious things, ^awith fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

⁴Now when Jehoram had ¹taken over the kingdom of his father and made himself ²secure, he ^akilled all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel also.

^5aJehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

^6aHe walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (^bfor Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

⁷Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, ^aand since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

Revolt against Judah

⁸In his days ^aEdom revolted ¹against the rule of Judah and set up a king over themselves.

⁹Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck down the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots.

¹⁰So Edom revolted ¹against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time ²against his rule, because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers.

¹¹Moreover, ^ahe made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^bto play the harlot and led Judah astray.

¹²Then a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet saying, “Thus says the Lord God of your father David, ‘Because ^ayou have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father ^band the ways of Asa king of Judah,

¹³but ^ahave walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot ^bas the house of Ahab played the harlot, and you ^chave also killed your brothers, ¹your own family, who were better than you,

¹⁴behold, the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great ¹calamity;

¹⁵and ^ayou will suffer ¹severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.’ ”

¹⁶Then ^athe Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and ^bthe Arabs who ¹bordered the Ethiopians;

¹⁷and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except ^1aJehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

¹⁸So after all this the Lord smote him ^ain his bowels with an incurable sickness.

¹⁹Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like ^athe fire for his fathers.

²⁰He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed ^1awith no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, ^bbut not in the tombs of the kings.