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Abijah rules Judah

13 Abijah[a] became king over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah; she was Uriel’s daughter from Gibeah. When war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam, Abijah went to fight with an army of four hundred thousand select troops against Jeroboam’s select forces numbering eight hundred thousand, who were arrayed in battle formation.

Abijah stood on the heights of Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim’s highlands and said:

“Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! Surely you know that the Lord, Israel’s God, made an unbreakable covenant[b] with David and his descendants that they would rule Israel forever. It was Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, the servant of Solomon, David’s son, who rebelled against his master. When some useless, worthless people joined his cause, they overpowered Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, who was too young and timid to resist them. And now do you intend to challenge the Lord’s royal rule, entrusted to David’s descendants? You may have a numerical advantage, as well as the gold calves Jeroboam made for you as gods. But you’ve banished the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s sons, along with the Levites, so that you could appoint your own priests as other countries do. Now anyone who shows up with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of these phony gods!

10 “But us? The Lord is our God, and we haven’t abandoned him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests, assisted in the work by the Levites. 11 Every morning and every evening they offer entirely burned offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord, and set out bread in stacks upon a clean table. At night they light the lamps on the gold lampstand. Yes, while you are abandoning the Lord our God, we are doing what he requires. 12 Listen! God is on our side, at our head, along with his priests, who are ready to sound the battle trumpets against you. So, Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you won’t succeed!”

13 Meanwhile, Jeroboam had sent troops around behind them for an ambush so that the main force was in front of Judah while the ambush was behind. 14 When Judah looked around and suddenly realized that they were surrounded, they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded the trumpets 15 and raised the battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God gave Judah the victory. 17 Abijah and his people struck them severely: five hundred thousand select warriors were killed. 18 Israel was subdued on that occasion, and Judah succeeded because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities away from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron,[c] along with their villages. 20 Jeroboam failed to regain power during the time of Abijah. The Lord finally struck him down, and he died. 21 Abijah, however, grew strong. He married fourteen wives; he had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 The rest of Abijah’s deeds, what he did and what he said, are written in the account of the prophet Iddo.

14 Abijah lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa rules Judah

[d] In Asa’s time, the land had peace for ten years. [e] Asa did what was right and good in the Lord his God’s eyes. He removed the foreign altars and shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles,[f] and urged Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, by doing what the Instruction and the commandments required. He also removed the shrines and incense altars from all the cities of Judah so that the kingdom was at peace under him. When the land was at peace, he built fortified cities in Judah; there was no war in those years because the Lord had given him rest.

“Let’s build up these cities,” Asa told Judah. “We’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates, and crossbars while the land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God and he sought us[g] and surrounded us with rest.” As a result, the people successfully completed their building projects.

Judah defeats Cush

Asa had an army of three hundred thousand Judeans armed with body-sized shields and spears and another two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin armed with small shields and bows. All were brave warriors. Zerah the Cushite marched against him with an army of one million men and three hundred chariots. When he got as far as Mareshah, 10 Asa marched against him, setting up for battle in a valley north[h] of Mareshah.

11 Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “Lord, only you can help the weak against the powerful.[i] Help us, Lord our God, because we rely on you and we have marched against this multitude in your name. You are the Lord our God. Don’t let a mere human stand against you!”

12 So the Lord struck the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. 13 Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell until there were no survivors. They were completely crushed by the Lord and his army, who carried off a huge amount of loot, 14 and attacked all the cities surrounding Gerar who were terrified of the Lord. They plundered all these cities as well because there was a great amount of loot in them. 15 They also attacked the herdsmen’s camps, taking many sheep and camels before returning to Jerusalem.

15 When God’s spirit came upon Azariah, Oded’s son, he confronted Asa: “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin,” he said. “The Lord is with you as long as you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Instruction. But in their time of trouble they turned to the Lord, Israel’s God. They sought him and found him! At that time, it wasn’t safe to travel because great turmoil affected all the inhabitants of the area. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, as God troubled them with every kind of problem. But as for you, be brave and don’t lose heart, because your work will be rewarded!”

Asa’s reforms

As soon as Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah, Oded’s son,[j] he felt brave and removed the detestable idols from all of Judah and Benjamin, as well as from the cities he had captured in Ephraim’s highlands, and he repaired the Lord’s altar that stood before the Lord’s entrance hall. Then Asa gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with those who were living among them as immigrants from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because many people from Israel had joined up with him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. 11 On that day they sacrificed to the Lord part of the loot they had taken: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12 They made a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and all their being. 13 They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the Lord, Israel’s God, would be put to death, whether young or old, male or female. 14 They swore this to the Lord with a loud voice, shouts of joy, and blasts from trumpets and horns. 15 All Judah was delighted with the solemn pledge because they had sworn it with all their hearts. When they enthusiastically sought God, he was found by them, and the Lord gave them peace on every side. 16 Asa the king even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image, pulverized it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 17 Although the shrines weren’t removed from Israel, Asa nevertheless remained committed with all his heart throughout his life. 18 He brought into God’s temple the various silver and gold objects that he and his father had dedicated. 19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s rule.

Aram invades Judah

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area. Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent them to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who ruled in Damascus, with the following message: “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. As soon as Baasha learned of this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. Then King Asa had all Judah carry away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba and Mizpah. At that time Hanani the seer came to Judah’s King Asa and said to him, “Because you relied on Aram’s king and not on the Lord your God, the army of Aram’s king has slipped out of your grasp. Weren’t the Cushites and the Libyans a vast army with chariots and horsemen to spare? Still, when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power, because the Lord’s eyes scan the whole world to strengthen those who are committed to him with all their hearts. Your foolishness means that you will have war on your hands from now on.” 10 Asa was angry with the seer. Asa was so mad he threw Hanani in jail and took his anger out on some of the people.

Asa’s disease and death

11 The rest of Asa’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa developed a severe foot disease. But even in his illness he refused to seek the Lord and consulted doctors instead. 13 In the forty-first year of his rule, Asa lay down with his ancestors. 14 He was buried in the tomb he had prepared for himself in David’s City, and was laid on a bed filled with sweet spices and various kinds of perfume, with a huge fire made in his honor.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 13:1 Spelled Abijam in 1 Kgs 15:1, 7-8
  2. 2 Chronicles 13:5 Or a covenant of salt
  3. 2 Chronicles 13:19 Qere, LXX; Kethib Ephrain
  4. 2 Chronicles 14:1 13:23 in Heb
  5. 2 Chronicles 14:2 14:1 in Heb
  6. 2 Chronicles 14:3 Heb asherim, perhaps objects devoted to the goddess Asherah; cf 1 Kgs 15:13
  7. 2 Chronicles 14:7 LXX; MT lacks and and repeats we sought.
  8. 2 Chronicles 14:10 LXX; MT an otherwise unknown Zephathah Valley
  9. 2 Chronicles 14:11 Heb uncertain; or it is not with you to help between the many and the powerless.
  10. 2 Chronicles 15:8 Cf Syr, Vulg; MT and the prophecy of the prophet Oded

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