2 Chronicles 15–17

1The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded.

2He went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

3Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.

4But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

5In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.

6They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity.

7But you be strong! Don’t let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded.”

8When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed Yahweh’s altar that was before Yahweh’s porch.

9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

10So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

11They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

12They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;

13and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

14They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets.

15All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around.

16Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; so Asa cut down her image, ground it into dust, and burned it at the brook Kidron.

17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

18He brought the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver, gold, and vessels into God’s house.

19There was no more war to the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

1In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

2Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of Yahweh’s house and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben Hadad king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,

3“Let there be a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.”

4Ben Hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

5When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and let his work cease.

6Then Asa the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, with which Baasha had built; and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on Yahweh your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand.

8Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with chariots and exceedingly many horsemen? Yet, because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand.

9For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.”

10Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

11Behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great; yet in his disease he didn’t seek Yahweh, but just the physicians.

13Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign.

14They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.

1Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel.

2He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.

3Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn’t seek the Baals,

4but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not in the ways of Israel.

5Therefore Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance.

6His heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh. Furthermore, he took away the high places and the Asherah poles out of Judah.

7Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;

8and with them Levites, even Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.

9They taught in Judah, having the book of Yahweh’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

10The fear of Yahweh fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute. The Arabians also brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.

12Jehoshaphat grew great exceedingly; and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah.

13He had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.

14This was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor;

15and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred eighty thousand;

16and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Yahweh, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor.

17From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield;

18and next to him Jehozabad, and with him one hundred eighty thousand ready and prepared for war.

19These were those who waited on the king, in addition to those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.