2 Chronicles 13-18

II Chronicles 13

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor.

⁴Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵Ought you not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.

⁷Worthless men were gathered to him, wicked fellows who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender hearted, and could not withstand them.

⁸“Now you intend to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David. You are a great multitude, and the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods are with you.

⁹Haven’t you driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves according to the ways of the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of those who are no gods.

¹⁰“But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests serving the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work.

¹¹They burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the show bread in order on the pure table, and care for the gold lamp stand with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we keep the instruction of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him.

¹²Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, don’t fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for you will not prosper.”

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴When Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried to the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout. As the men of Judah shouted, God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter, so five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell down slain.

¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages.

²⁰Jeroboam didn’t recover strength again in the days of Abijah. The LORD struck him, and he died.

²¹But Abijah grew mighty and took for himself fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

II Chronicles 14

¹So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days, the land was quiet ten years.

²Asa did that which was good and right in the LORD his God’s eyes,

³for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles,

⁴and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command.

⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

⁶He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest.

⁷For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. 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.

⁸Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

¹⁰Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, LORD our God; for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.”

¹²So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians fell that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his army. Judah’s army carried away very much booty.

¹⁴They struck all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.

¹⁵They also struck the tents of those who had livestock, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, then returned to Jerusalem.

II Chronicles 15

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! The LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD’s altar that was before the LORD’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 the LORD 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 the LORD in that day, from the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

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

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

¹⁴They swore to the LORD 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 the LORD 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.

II Chronicles 16

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 the LORD’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 the LORD 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 the LORD, he delivered them into your hand.

⁹For the LORD’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 the LORD, 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.

II Chronicles 17

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.

³The LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD. 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 the LORD’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

¹⁰The fear of the LORD 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 the LORD, 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.

II Chronicles 18

¹Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab.

²After some years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria. Ahab killed sheep and cattle for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead.

³Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”

⁴Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the LORD’s word.”

⁵Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?” They said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

⁶But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we may inquire of him?”

⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.”

⁸Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, “Get Micaiah the son of Imla quickly.”

⁹Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each sat on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

¹⁰Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “The LORD says, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’”

¹¹All the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper; for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

¹²The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Let your word therefore, please be like one of theirs, and speak good.”

¹³Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will say what my God says.”

¹⁴When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?” He said, “Go up, and prosper. They shall be delivered into your hand.”

¹⁵The king said to him, “How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the LORD’s name?”

¹⁶He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. The LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”

¹⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

¹⁸Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the LORD’s word: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.

¹⁹The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One spoke saying in this way, and another saying in that way.

²⁰A spirit came out, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “The LORD said to him, ‘How?’

²¹“He said, ‘I will go, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “He said, ‘You will entice him, and will prevail also. Go and do so.’

²²“Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.”

²³Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the LORD’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?”

²⁴Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”

²⁵The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son;

²⁶and say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.”’”

²⁷Micaiah said, “If you return at all in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, you people, all of you!”

²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

²⁹The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle.

³⁰Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.”

³¹When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they turned around to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.

³²When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³³A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of the chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am severely wounded.”

³⁴The battle increased that day. However, the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening; and at about sunset, he died.