2 Chronicles 14

14So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then ^aAsa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.

Asa Reigns in Judah

²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, ³for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and ^bthe ¹high places, and ^cbroke down the sacred pillars ^dand cut down the wooden images. ⁴He commanded Judah to ^eseek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁵He also removed the ²high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him ^frest. ⁷Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, 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. ⁸And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried ³shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew ^gbows; all these were mighty men of ^hvalor.

⁹ⁱThen Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^jMareshah. ¹⁰So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa ^kcried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is ^lnothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and ^min Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”

¹²So the Lord ⁿstruck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to ^oGerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much ⁴spoil. ¹⁴Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for ^pthe fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much ⁵spoil in them. ¹⁵They also ⁶attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.