July
27
2
Chronicles 13-15
2Ch
13:1 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign
over Judah.
2Ch
13:2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was
Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah
and Jeroboam.
2Ch
13:3 Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even
four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in
array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were
mighty men of valor.
2Ch
13:4 Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country
of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:
2Ch
13:5 Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the
kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by
a covenant of salt?
2Ch
13:6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son
of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.
2Ch
13:7 There were gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who
strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when
Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.
2Ch
13:8 Now you think to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of
the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and there are with
you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.
2Ch
13:9 Haven't you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of
Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves after the
manner of the peoples of other
lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull
and seven rams, the same may be a priest of those
who are no gods.
2Ch
13:10 But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken
him; and we have
priests ministering to Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in
their work:
2Ch
13:11 and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening burnt
offerings and sweet incense: the show bread also set
they in order on the pure table; and the
lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening: for we keep
the instruction of Yahweh our God; but you have forsaken him.
2Ch
13:12 Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the
trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel,
don't you fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers; for you
shall not prosper.
2Ch
13:13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them: so
they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.
2Ch
13:14 When Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and
behind them; and they cried to Yahweh, and the priests sounded with
the trumpets.
2Ch
13:15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah
shouted, it happened, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah.
2Ch
13:16 The children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered
them into their hand.
2Ch
13:17 Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter: so
there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
2Ch
13:18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time,
and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on Yahweh,
the God of their fathers.
2Ch
13:19 Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him,
Bethel with its towns, and Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with
its towns.
2Ch
13:20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of
Abijah: and Yahweh struck him, and he died.
2Ch
13:21 But Abijah grew mighty, and took to himself fourteen wives,
and became the father of twenty-two sons, and sixteen daughters.
2Ch
13:22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings,
are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.
2Ch
14:1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the
city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the
land was quiet ten years.
2Ch
14:2 Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his
God:
2Ch
14:3 for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and
broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherim,
2Ch
14:4 and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers,
and to do the law and the commandment.
2Ch
14:5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high
places and the sun images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
2Ch
14:6 He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and
he had no war in those years, because Yahweh had given him rest.
2Ch
14:7 For he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about
them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us,
because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought him, and he has
given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.
2Ch
14:8 Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah
three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and
drew bows, two hundred eighty thousand: all these were mighty men of
valor.
2Ch
14:9 There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of
a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to
Mareshah.
2Ch
14:10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in
array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
2Ch
14:11 Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, there is none
besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength:
help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we
come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God; don't let man
prevail against you.
2Ch
14:12 So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah;
and the Ethiopians fled.
2Ch
14:13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar:
and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover
themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh, and before his
army; and they carried away very much booty.
2Ch
14:14 They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of
Yahweh came on them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was
much spoil in them.
2Ch
14:15 They struck also the tents of livestock, and carried away
sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch
15:1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded:
2Ch
15:2 and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and
all Judah and Benjamin: Yahweh is with you, while you are with him;
and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him,
he will forsake you.
2Ch
15:3 Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and
without a teaching priest, and without law:
2Ch
15:4 But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of
Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.
2Ch
15:5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to
him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of
the lands.
2Ch
15:6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city
against city; for God troubled them with all adversity.
2Ch
15:7 But you be strong, and don't let your hands be slack; for your
work shall be rewarded.
2Ch
15:8 When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the
prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all
the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had
taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of
Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh.
2Ch
15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned
with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they
fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his
God was with him.
2Ch
15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third
month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
2Ch
15:11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they
had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.
2Ch
15:12 They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of
their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
2Ch
15:13 and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel,
should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
2Ch
15:14 They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and
with trumpets, and with cornets.
2Ch
15:15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all
their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found
of them: and Yahweh gave them rest all around.
2Ch
15:16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being
queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and
Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the
brook Kidron.
2Ch
15:17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel:
nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
2Ch
15:18 He brought into the house of God the things that his father
had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold,
and vessels.
2Ch
15:19 There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the
reign of Asa.