Abijah joined the members of his family who had already died. His body was buried in the City of David. His son Asa became the next king after him. While Asa was king, the country had peace and rest for ten years.

Asa Becomes King of Judah

²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³He removed the altars where strange gods were worshiped. He took away the high places. He smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles that were used to worship the goddess Asherah. ⁴He commanded Judah to worship the Lord, the God of their people. He commanded them to obey the Lord’s laws and commands.

⁵He removed the high places and incense altars from every town in Judah. The kingdom had peace and rest under him. ⁶He built up the cities of Judah that had high walls around them. The land was at peace. No one was at war with Asa during those years. That’s because the Lord gave him peace and rest.

⁷“Let’s build up our towns,” Asa said to the people of Judah. “Let’s put walls around them. Let’s provide them with towers. Let’s make them secure with gates that have heavy metal bars. The land still belongs to us. That’s because we’ve trusted in the Lord our God. We trusted in him, and he has given us peace and rest on every side.” So they built. And things went well for them.

⁸Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah. They carried spears and large shields. There were 280,000 men from Benjamin. They were armed with bows and small shields. All of those men were brave soldiers.

⁹Zerah marched out against them. He was from Cush. He had a huge army. He also had 300 chariots. They came all the way to Mareshah.

¹⁰Asa went out to meet Zerah in battle. They took up their positions in the Valley of Zephathah. It’s near Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa called out to the Lord his God. He said, “Lord, there isn’t anyone like you. You help the weak against the strong. Lord our God, help us. We trust in you. In your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. Lord, you are our God. Don’t let mere men win the battle over you.”

¹²The Lord struck down the men of Cush for Asa and Judah. The Cushites ran away. ¹³Asa and his army chased them all the way to Gerar. A large number of Cushites fell down wounded or dead. So they couldn’t fight back. The Lord and his army crushed them. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of goods.

¹⁴They attacked all of the villages around Gerar. The Lord had made the people in those villages afraid of him. The men of Judah took everything from all of the villages. ¹⁵They also attacked the camps of those who took care of the herds. They carried off large numbers of sheep, goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa Makes Judah a Better Nation

15The Spirit of God came on Azariah. He was the son of Oded. ²Azariah went out to meet Asa. He said to him, “Asa and all you people of Judah and Benjamin, listen to me. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you really look for him, you will find him. But if you desert him, he will desert you.

³“For a long time Israel didn’t worship the true God. They didn’t have a priest who taught them. So they didn’t know God’s law. ⁴But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. When they did, they found him.

⁵“In those days it wasn’t safe to travel around. The people who lived in all of the areas of the land were having a lot of trouble. ⁶One nation was crushing another. One city was crushing another. That’s because God was causing them to suffer terribly.

⁷“But be strong. Don’t give up. God will reward you for your work.”

⁸Asa heard that prophecy. He paid attention to the words of the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded. So Asa became bolder than ever. He removed the statues of gods from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin. He also removed them from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He did it because he hated those gods. He repaired the altar of the Lord. It was in front of the porch of the Lord’s temple.

⁹Then he gathered all of the people of Judah and Benjamin together. He also gathered together the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them. Large numbers of people had come over to him from Israel. They came because they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰They gathered in Jerusalem. It was the third month of the 15th year of Asa’s rule. ¹¹At that time they sacrificed to the Lord 700 head of cattle and 7,000 sheep and goats. The animals were among the things they had taken after the battle.

¹²They made a covenant to look to the Lord, the God of their people. They looked to him with all their heart and soul. ¹³All those who wouldn’t look to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be killed. It wouldn’t matter how important they were. It wouldn’t matter whether they were men or women. ¹⁴They took an oath and made a promise to the Lord. They praised him out loud. They shouted. They blew trumpets and horns.

¹⁵All of the people of Judah were happy about the promise they had made. They turned to God with all their heart. When they did, they found him. So the Lord gave them peace and rest on every side.

¹⁶King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother. That’s because she had made a pole that was used to worship the goddess Asherah. The Lord hated it. So Asa cut it down. He broke it up. He burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷Asa didn’t remove the high places from Israel. But he committed his whole life completely to the Lord. ¹⁸He and his father had set apart silver, gold and other articles to the Lord. He brought them into God’s temple.

¹⁹There weren’t any more wars until the 35th year of Asa’s rule.

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