1
So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.
2
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God,
3
for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.
4
He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment.
5
He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him.
6
And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.
7
Therefore he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while 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.
8
And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty men of valor.
9
Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.
10
So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.