22The other events of Abijah’s reign, his conduct and his acts, are recorded in the story of the prophet Iddo. 23Abijah slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David; his son Asa succeeded him as king. The land was untroubled for ten years.
14Asa did what was good and pleasing to the LORD his God. 2He abolished the alien altars and shrines; he smashed the pillars and cut down the sacred posts. 3He ordered Judah to turn to the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the Teaching and the Commandment. 4He abolished the shrines and the incense stands throughout the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was untroubled under him. 5He built fortified towns in Judah, since the land was untroubled and he was not engaged in warfare during those years, for the LORD had granted him respite. 6He said to Judah, “Let us build up these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is at our disposal because we turned to the LORD our God—we turned [to Him] and He gave us respite on all sides.” They were successful in their building.
7Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah bearing shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin bearing bucklers and drawing the bow; all these were valiant men. 8Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of a thousand thousand and 300 chariots. When he reached Mareshah 9Asa confronted him, and the battle lines were drawn in the valley of Zephat by Mareshah. 10Asa called to the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, it is all the same to You to help the numerous and the powerless. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this great multitude. You are the LORD our God. Let no mortal hinder You.” 11So the LORD routed the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. 12Asa and the army with him pursued them as far as Gerar. Many of the Cushites fell wounded beyond recovery, for they broke before the LORD and His camp. Very much spoil was taken. 13All the cities in the vicinity of Gerar were ravaged, for a terror of the LORD seized them. All the cities were plundered, and they yielded much booty. 14They also ravaged the encampment of herdsmen, capturing much sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
15The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2He came to Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin; the LORD is with you as long as you are with Him. If you turn to Him, He will respond to you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3Israel has gone many days without the true God, without a priest to give instruction and without Teaching. 4But in distress it returned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, and He responded to them. 5At those times, a-no wayfarer-a was safe, for there was much tumult among all the inhabitants of the lands. 6Nations was crushed by nation and city by city, for God threw them into panic with every kind of trouble. 7As for you, be strong, do not be disheartened, for there is reward for your labor.”
8When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abominations from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He restored the altar of the LORD in front of the porch of the LORD. 9He assembled all the people of Judah and Benjamin and those people of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who sojourned among them, for many in Israel had thrown in their lot with him when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. 10They were assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11They brought sacrifices to the LORD on that day; they brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep of the spoil. 12They entered into a covenant to worship the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. 13Whoever would not worship the LORD God of Israel would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14So they took an oath to the LORD in a loud voice and with shouts, with trumpeting and blasts of the horn. 15All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart and sought Him with all their will. He responded to them and gave them respite on every side.
16bHec also deposed Maacah mother of King Asa from the rank of queen mother, because she had made an abominable thing for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her abominable thing, reduced it to dust, and burned it in the Wadi Kidron. 17The shrines, indeed, where not abolished in Israel; however, Asa was wholehearted [with the LORD] all his life. 18He brought into the House of God the things that he and his father had consecrated—silver, gold, and utensils. 19There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
16 aIn the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel marched against Judah and built up Ramah to block b-all movement-b of King Asa of Judah. 2Asa took all the silver and gold from the treasuries of the House of the LORD and the royal palace, and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, with this message: 3“There is a pact between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. I herewith send you silver and gold; go and break your pact with King Baasha of Israel so that he may withdraw from me.” 4Ben-hadad acceded to King Asa’s request; he sent his army commanders against the towns of Israel and ravaged Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the garrison towns of Naphtali. 5When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building up Ramah and put an end to the work on it. 6Then King Asa mustered all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber with which Baasha had built up Ramah; with these King Asa built up Geba and Mizpah.
7At that time, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has slipped out of your hands. 8The Cushites and Lybians were a mighty army with chariots and horsemen in very great numbers, yet because you relied on the LORD He delivered them into your hands. 9For the eyes of the LORD range over the entire earth, to give support to those who are wholeheartedly with Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter, and henceforth you will be beset by wars.” 10Asa was vexed at the seer and put him into the stocks,c for he was furious with him because of that. Asa inflicted cruelties on some of the people at that time.
11The acts of Asa, early and late, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from an acute foot ailment; but ill as he was, he still did not turn to the LORD but to physicians. 13Asa slept with his fathers. He died in the forty-first year of his reign 14and was buried in the grave that he had made for himself in the City of David. He was laid in his resting-place, which was filled with spices of all kinds, expertly blended; a very great fire was made in his honor.
17 His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king, and took firm hold of Israel. 2He stationed troops in all the fortified towns of Judah, and stationed garrisons throughout the land of Judah and the cities of Ephraim which his father Asa had captured. 3The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the earlier ways of his father David, and did not worship the Baalim, 4but worshiped the God of his
