2 Chronicles 14

¹⁰Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

⁸And Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa reigned in his place.

⁹In the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

³¹And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.

³¹And Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

¹⁰Solomon’s son was Rehoboam: Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,

⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.

⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.

¹¹And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

¹⁴The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the Lord all his days.

²⁰So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the Lord his God.

⁵Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.

¹⁴He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

¹³Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

¹²He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

¹³He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷The high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted all his days.

³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And the king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

³⁰Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.

²I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.

³I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

²⁷And Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be sacrificed on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord and the trumpets began as well, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel.

¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

¹⁶Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

⁷He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their heart. They had sought Him earnestly, and He was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.

⁹But a son will be born to you who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name will be Solomon, and I will grant to Israel peace and quiet during his reign.

¹¹So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah.

⁶He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

²⁹But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

³⁰So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

⁶Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the Lord had given him rest.

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³⁶While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of light.” After Jesus had spoken these things, He went away and was hidden from them.

⁹As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

¹²Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

¹³You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

⁴He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandments.

³Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in formation against him with 800,000 chosen and mighty men of valor.

¹When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

¹⁴These are their numbers according to the houses of their fathers: From Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him 300,000 mighty men of valor;

¹⁵next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him 280,000;

⁵Then Amaziah gathered the people of Judah and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and of hundreds. And he numbered those twenty years of age or older throughout Judah and Benjamin and found 300,000 chosen men able to serve in the army, bearing the spear and shield.

⁸Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.

⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

⁴⁴Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, along with their villages.

²In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

⁵Cush, Put, and Lud, and all the various peoples, as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land, will fall with Egypt by the sword.

¹⁷Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah.

⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

¹⁹They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

⁵They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

¹⁴When Judah turned and discovered that the battle was both before and behind them, they cried out to the Lord. Then the priests blew the trumpets,

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

¹⁵and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. And when they raised the cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

¹²With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.

²⁶Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.

¹⁰And the Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

³⁹See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

¹⁹and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

¹Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,

¹Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

¹⁴and attacked all the cities around Gerar, because the terror of the Lord had fallen upon them. They plundered all the cities, since there was much plunder there.

¹⁴“Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

⁹They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,

¹⁰And the dread of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

⁵As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

²⁹And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

¹²“Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,

²⁵Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.

⁹The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.

²¹They seized the livestock of the Hagrites—50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also took 100,000 captives,

³⁰From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

³¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had commanded Moses,

⁴¹These who were noted by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked the Hamites in their dwellings as well as the Meunites who were there, devoting them to destruction even to this day. Then they settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks.

²⁰And he took all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”