2 Chronicles 14-15

International Standard Version

14 ^1 [a]Then Abijah died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. Abijah’s^[b] son Asa reigned in his place, and during his lifetime the land enjoyed rest for ten years.

Asa Chooses to do What is Right^(A)

^2 [c]Asa practiced what the Lord his God considered to be right ³ by removing the foreign altars and high places, tearing down the sacred pillars, cutting down the Asherim,^[d] and ⁴ commanding Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors and to keep the Law and the commandments. ⁵ He also removed the high places and incense altars from all of the cities of Judah. As a result, the kingdom enjoyed rest under Asa’s leadership.^[e]

⁶ Asa^[f] built fortified cities throughout Judah while the land lay undisturbed, because the Lord had given him peace so that no one went to war against him during those years. ⁷ He had told Judah, “Let’s build up these cities, surrounding them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land still belongs to us, because we have kept on seeking the Lord our God. We have sought him out, and he has given us rest all around us.” So the people built and prospered. ⁸ Asa kept a standing army of 300,000 soldiers from Judah equipped with large shields and spears, as well as 280,000 soldiers from Benjamin, also bearing shields and wielding bows. All of them were valiant soldiers.

Ethiopia Invades and is Repulsed

⁹ Sometime later, Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against him at Mareshah with an army of one million troops and 300 chariots. ¹⁰ Asa went out to engage him in battle, and they drew up their battle lines at Mareshah in the Zephathah Valley. ¹¹ Asa cried out to the Lord his God, telling him, “Lord, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, Lord God, because we’re depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. Lord, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!”

¹² So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians right in front of Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and his army pursued the Ethiopians^[g] as far as Gerar. So many Ethiopians died that their army could not recover, because it had been shattered in the Lord’s presence and in the presence of his army. The Israelis^[h] carried off a lot of plunder, too. ¹⁴ They attacked all the cities that surrounded Gerar, because fear of the Lord had overwhelmed them. The Israelis spoiled all the cities, because there was a lot to plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also attacked the tents of those who owned livestock and carried off lots of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Azariah the Prophet Encourages Asa

15 After this, the Spirit of God came to rest on Oded’s son Azariah, ² so he went out to meet Asa and rebuked him:

Asa Institutes Reforms

⁸ Encouraged by what Oded’s son Azariah the prophet had said in his prophecy, Asa^[n] removed the detestable idols from throughout the entire territories of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the Lord’s altar that stood in front of the vestibule of the Lord’s Temple. ⁹ Then he gathered together all of Judah, Benjamin, and people from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them, since many people had defected to him from Israel when they learned that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ They all assembled in Jerusalem during the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ They sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil that they had brought with them. ¹² They also entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their heart and soul, ¹³ and they further agreed that^[o] whoever would refuse to seek the Lord God of Israel was to be executed, whether important or unimportant, man or woman. ¹⁴ They also made a vow to the Lord with loud voices, shouting, trumpets, and horns. ¹⁵ Everybody in Judah was very glad to make their oath, because they had made their vow with all their heart and had sought him with all of their might,^[p] and they found him! The Lord also gave them rest in their surrounding lands.

¹⁶ King Asa removed his mother Maacah from her position as Queen Mother because she had made a detestable image dedicated to Asherah.^[q] He cut down his mother’s idol, crushed it, and burned it at the Kidron Brook. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, the high places were not removed from Israel, even though Asa’s heart was blameless all of his life. ¹⁸ Asa brought into God’s Temple the things that his father had dedicated, as well as his own dedicated gifts such as silver, gold, and temple service^[r] implements. ¹⁹ Asa experienced no more war until the end of the^[s] thirty-fifth year of his reign.