2 Chronicles 15; 2 Chronicles 16; 2 Chronicles 17; 2 Chronicles 18

1 The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded,

2 and he went to meet King Asa. He called out, "Listen to me, King Asa, and all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you as long as you are with him. If you look for him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you.

3 For a long time Israel lived without the true God, without priests to teach them, and without a law.

4 But when trouble came, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. They searched for him and found him.

5 In those days no one could come and go in safety, because there was trouble and disorder in every land.

6 One nation oppressed another nation, and one city oppressed another city, because God was bringing trouble and distress on them.

7 But you must be strong and not be discouraged. The work that you do will be rewarded."

8 When Asa heard the prophecy that Azariah son of Oded had spoken, he was encouraged. He did away with all the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin and all the idols in the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired the altar of the Lord that stood in the Temple courtyard.

9 Many people had come over to Asa's side from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, and were living in his kingdom, because they had seen that the Lord was with him. Asa summoned all of them and the people of Judah and Benjamin.

10 They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year that Asa was king.

11 On that day they offered sacrifices to the Lord from the loot they had brought back: seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

12 They made a covenant in which they agreed to worship the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul.

13 Anyone, young or old, male or female, who did not worship him was to be put to death.

14 In a loud voice they took an oath in the Lord's name that they would keep the covenant, and then they shouted and blew trumpets.

15 All the people of Judah were happy because they had made this covenant with all their heart. They took delight in worshiping the Lord, and he accepted them and gave them peace on every side.

16 King Asa removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol, chopped it up, and burned the pieces in Kidron Valley.

17 Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship in the land, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.

18 He placed in the Temple all the objects his father Abijah had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.

19 There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of his reign.

1 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.

2 So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple and the palace and sent it to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, with this message:

3 "Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory."

4 Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the cities of Naphtali where supplies were stored.

5 When King Baasha heard what was happening, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned the work.

6 Then King Asa gathered men from throughout Judah and had them carry off the stones and timbers that Baasha had been using at Ramah, and they used them to fortify the cities of Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said, "Because you relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Israel has escaped from you.

8 Didn't the Ethiopians and the Libyans have large armies with many chariots and cavalry troops? But because you relied on the Lord, he gave you victory over them.

9 The Lord keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war."

10 This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.

11 All the events of Asa's reign from beginning to end are recorded in [The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.]

12 In the thirty-ninth year that Asa was king, he was crippled by a severe foot disease; but even then he did not turn to the Lord for help, but to doctors.

13 Two years later he died

14 and was buried in the rock tomb which he had carved out for himself in David's City. They used spices and perfumed oils to prepare his body for burial, and they built a huge bonfire to mourn his death.

1 Jehoshaphat succeeded his father Asa as king and strengthened his position against Israel.

2 He stationed troops in the fortified cities of Judah, in the Judean countryside, and in the cities which Asa had captured in the territory of Ephraim.

3 The Lord blessed Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father's early life and did not worship Baal.

4 He served his father's God, obeyed God's commands, and did not act the way the kings of Israel did.

5 The Lord gave Jehoshaphat firm control over the kingdom of Judah, and all the people brought him gifts, so that he became wealthy and highly honored.

6 He took pride in serving the Lord and destroyed all the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah in Judah.

7 In the third year of his reign he sent out the following officials to teach in the cities of Judah: Benhail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah.

8 They were accompanied by nine Levites and two priests. The Levites were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and the priests were Elishama and Jehoram.

9 They took the book of the Law of the Lord and went through all the towns of Judah, teaching it to the people.

10 The Lord made all the surrounding kingdoms afraid to go to war against King Jehoshaphat.

11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat a large amount of silver and other gifts, and some Arabs brought him 7,700 sheep and 7,700 goats.

12 So Jehoshaphat continued to grow more and more powerful. Throughout Judah he built fortifications and cities,

13 where supplies were stored in huge amounts. In Jerusalem he stationed outstanding officers,

14 according to their clans. Adnah was the commander of the troops from the clans of Judah, and he had 300,000 soldiers under him.

15 Second in rank was Jehohanan, with 280,000 soldiers,

16 and third was Amasiah son of Zichri, with 200,000. (Amasiah had volunteered to serve the Lord.)

17 The commander of the troops from the clans of Benjamin was Eliada, an outstanding soldier, in command of 200,000 men armed with shields and bows.

18 His second in command was Jehozabad with 180,000 men, well-equipped for battle.

19 These soldiers served the king in Jerusalem, and in addition he stationed others in the other fortified cities of Judah.

1 When King Jehoshaphat of Judah became rich and famous, he arranged a marriage between a member of his family and the family of King Ahab of Israel.

2 A number of years later Jehoshaphat went to the city of Samaria to visit Ahab. To honor Jehoshaphat and those with him, Ahab had a large number of sheep and cattle slaughtered for a feast. He tried to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in attacking the city of Ramoth in Gilead.

3 He asked, "Will you go with me to attack Ramoth?" Jehoshaphat replied, "I am ready when you are, and so is my army. We will join you."

4 Then he added, "But first let's consult the Lord."

5 So Ahab called in the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked them, "Should I go and attack Ramoth, or not?" "Attack it," they answered. "God will give you victory."

6 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there another prophet through whom we can consult the Lord?"

7 Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad." "You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.

8 So King Ahab called in a court official and told him to go and get Micaiah at once.

9 The two kings, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing place just outside the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

10 One of them, Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, made iron horns and said to Ahab, "This is what the Lord says, "With these you will fight the Syrians and totally defeat them.' "

11 All the other prophets said the same thing. "March against Ramoth and you will win," they said. "The Lord will give you victory."

12 Meanwhile, the official who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, "All the other prophets have prophesied success for the king, and you had better do the same."

13 But Micaiah answered, "By the living Lord I will say what my God tells me to!"

14 When he appeared before King Ahab, the king asked him, "Micaiah, should King Jehoshaphat and I go and attack Ramoth, or not?" "Attack!" Micaiah answered. "Of course you'll win. The Lord will give you victory."

15 But Ahab replied, "When you speak to me in the name of the Lord, tell the truth! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

16 Micaiah answered, "I can see the army of Israel scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, "These men have no leader; let them go home in peace.' "

17 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "I told you that he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad!"

18 Micaiah went on: "Now listen to what the Lord says! I saw the Lord sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him.

19 The Lord asked, "Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and get killed at Ramoth?' Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else,

20 until a spirit stepped forward, approached the Lord, and said, "I will deceive him.' "How?' the Lord asked.

21 The spirit replied, "I will go and make all of Ahab's prophets tell lies.' The Lord said, "Go and deceive him. You will succeed.' "

22 And Micaiah concluded: "This is what has happened. The Lord has made these prophets of yours lie to you. But he himself has decreed that you will meet with disaster!"

23 Then the prophet Zedekiah went up to Micaiah, slapped his face, and asked, "Since when did the Lord's spirit leave me and speak to you?"

24 "You will find out when you go into some back room to hide," Micaiah replied.

25 Then King Ahab ordered one of his officers, "Arrest Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Prince Joash.

26 Tell them to throw him in prison and to put him on bread and water until I return safely."

27 "If you return safely," Micaiah exclaimed, "then the Lord has not spoken through me!" And he added, "Listen, everyone, to what I have said!"

28 Then King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to attack the city of Ramoth in Gilead.

29 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "As we go into battle, I will disguise myself, but you wear your royal garments." So the king of Israel went into battle in disguise.

30 The king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders to attack no one else except the king of Israel.

31 So when they saw King Jehoshaphat, they all thought that he was the king of Israel, and they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat gave a shout, and the Lord God rescued him and turned the attack away from him.

32 The chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, so they stopped pursuing him.

33 By chance, however, a Syrian soldier shot an arrow which struck King Ahab between the joints of his armor. "I'm wounded!" he cried out to his chariot driver. "Turn around and pull out of the battle!"

34 While the battle raged on, King Ahab remained propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians. At sunset he died.