2 Chronicles 15-17

Lexham English Bible

Asa’s Religious Reforms

15 Now Azariah the son of Oded—the Spirit of God came upon him. ² And he went out before Asa and said to him, “Hear me, O Asa and all of Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him. And if you will seek him he will be found by you. But if you forsake him he will forsake you. ³ Now Israel has been without the true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without law, ⁴ but at its trouble he returned to Yahweh, the God of Israel. They sought him, and he was found by them. ⁵ And in those times there was no peace for the one going out and the one coming in, for great tumults were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation, and city was against city, for God threw them into confusion by all sorts of trouble. ⁷ But as for you, be strong and let not your hands be weak, for there is reward for your labor.”

⁸ And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh.

⁹ And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them, from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. ¹⁰ And they were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹ And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the war booty they brought back: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹² And they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^[a] with all their heart and with all their inmost being,^{[b] 13} but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women. ¹⁴ And they took an oath to Yahweh with a great voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart. And they sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave rest to them all around.

¹⁶ And also Maacah, the mother of Asa, the king removed her from being queen, because she had made a repulsive image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her repulsive image, and he crushed and burned it at the Wadi^[c] Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was fully devoted all his days. ¹⁸ And he brought the holy objects of his father and his own holy objects into the house of God—silver and gold and vessels. ¹⁹ And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

The End of Asa’s Reign

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha the king of Israel went up against Judah. And he built Ramah in order not to allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. ² Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the storehouses of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram,^[d] who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he might withdraw from me.”

⁴ And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent commanders of his troops that were with him against the cities of Israel. And they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵ And it happened that when Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work. ⁶ Then King Asa took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

⁷ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram,^[e] and since you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram^[f] escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with very abundant chariots and horsemen? And because of your reliance on Yahweh he gave them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout all the earth to strengthen those whose heart is fully devoted to him. You have been foolish in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the prison,^[g] for he was enraged with him concerning this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

¹¹ Now behold, the words of Asa from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, he fell severely^[h] ill in his feet. But even in his illness he did not seek Yahweh, but only among the healers. ¹³ And Asa slept with his ancestors.^[i] And he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made by the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.

Jehoshaphat Reigns in Judah

17 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel. ² And he put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken. ³ And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of David his father and did not seek after the Baals, ⁴ but he sought after the God of his ancestors^[j] and walked in his commandments and not according to the works of Israel. ⁵ So Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah gave tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had much wealth and honor. ⁶ And his heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh. Moreover, he removed the high places and the Asherahs from Judah.

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; ⁸ and with them the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah; and with them the priests Elisham and Joram. ⁹ And they taught in Judah, and the scroll of the law of Yahweh was with them when they went around in all the cities of Judah, and they taught the people.

¹⁰ And the fear of Yahweh was upon all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ And some of the Philistines brought a gift and silver to Jehoshaphat as tribute. The Arabians also brought him seven thousand seven hundred sheep and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

¹² And Jehoshaphat grew greater and greater,^[k] and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. ¹³ And he had many supplies in the cities of Judah and mighty warriors for battle in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now these were their enrollment by the house of their ancestors:^[l] of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah, the commander, and with him were three hundred thousand mighty armed warriors; ¹⁵ and at his side,^[m] Jehohanan the commander, and with him were two hundred and eighty thousand; ¹⁶ and at his side,^[n] Amasiah the son of Zicri, who had made a freewill offering to Yahweh, and with him were two hundred thousand mighty armed warriors. ¹⁷ And from Benjamin: Eliada, a powerful mighty warrior, and with him were two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸ and at his side,^[o] Jehozabad, and with him were one hundred and eighty thousand armed for war. ¹⁹ These were serving the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.