2 Chronicles 20

⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.

¹¹Note that Amariah, the chief priest, will be over you in all that pertains to the Lord, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king. And the Levites will serve as officers before you. Act resolutely; may the Lord be with the upright!”

⁵For with one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against You—

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.

⁷Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

²⁹And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi—six cities, along with their villages.

³The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

¹⁶the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

³So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁹Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a fast before the Lord was proclaimed to all the people of Jerusalem and all who had come there from the cities of Judah.

⁶When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

¹⁶“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

¹⁴Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

⁵And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

⁶When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁰Have You not rejected us, O God? Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?

¹¹Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.

³⁵For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.

⁵Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed.

⁶This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.

⁵He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah.

¹²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

¹³Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁶Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

³¹So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

¹¹Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all.

¹²Both riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler over all. In Your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all.

³⁹Know therefore this day and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

¹⁷This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’

⁸God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.

¹¹When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

²⁵You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.

⁸“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

²With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

¹⁵for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

³But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac,

¹⁰Now the Lord has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God to dedicate to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for displaying the showbread continuously, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening as well as on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts of the Lord our God. This is ordained for Israel forever.

²⁸When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

²⁹then may whatever prayer or plea Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

³³When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple,

²⁰May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

²⁴You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁰For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”

³⁷When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

⁴and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

⁵Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.

¹⁹But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

⁹Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

¹⁷Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸But Edom answered, “You may not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”

¹After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.

¹⁵to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.

¹⁶But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

³With cunning they scheme against Your people and conspire against those You cherish,

⁴saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

¹³If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

⁴They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

¹²They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.

²³Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?

²⁴Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the Lord our God has granted us.

¹A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

²My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹⁵My eyes are always on the Lord, for He will free my feet from the mesh.

⁸But my eyes are fixed on You, O God the Lord. In You I seek refuge; do not leave my soul defenseless.

¹A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.

²As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until He shows us mercy.

³⁶For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.

⁵And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

⁵But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us.

¹⁰All of you are standing today before the Lord your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

¹Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.

²⁰Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you.’”

⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.

²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed that Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they never did so again.

²⁶Two men, however, had remained in the camp—one named Eldad and the other Medad—and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁰While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the Lord my God concerning His holy mountain—

²¹while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

²When Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him,

⁷“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him.

⁸With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁶Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

¹³But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the Lord’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

⁴⁷And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

⁸The Lord Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

²⁹So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them!

³⁰The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt

¹³But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the Lord’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

²So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

¹⁰“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”

¹¹The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

²⁰and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

²⁶It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

³When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”

²⁰Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

²⁶Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord,

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

⁵Asaph was the chief, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They were to play the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals

⁴²Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for the songs of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.

⁵4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”

¹⁶David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.

¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, Asaph son of Berechiah; from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah;

¹³The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

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

⁴⁰Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

¹“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.

³¹Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

³You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

¹Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

¹Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

¹³The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud

³⁴Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

²⁹Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness;

²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.

²⁰Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

²¹And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord God, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.

²²And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the Lord set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

²“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

¹⁷Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

⁵May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the Lord drives them away.

⁶May their path be dark and slick, as the angel of the Lord pursues.

²²And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the Lord set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

²⁰Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

⁸So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.

⁹This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.

²“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it,

³and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.

⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

⁵Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.

³⁶Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

⁵The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.

¹⁴shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor?

²²and many others fell slain, because the battle belonged to God. And they occupied the land until the exile.

³⁰That day the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.

⁶He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.

¹⁹Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back.

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

⁹Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.”

¹⁵“Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

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

⁸Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, kindle fires, and burn up the weapons—the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it The Lord Is My Banner.

²¹Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

²²Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

⁹The poles of the ark extended far enough that their ends were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.

²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

⁴No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

⁴³On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

¹¹So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹⁰So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹³One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate, and go out by it. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord as their leader.

⁵May we shout for joy at your victory and raise a banner in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your petitions.

¹A Psalm. A song for the dedication of the temple. Of David. I will exalt You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and have not allowed my foes to rejoice over me.

²And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and the loud rumbling of thunder. And the sound I heard was like harpists strumming their harps.

³And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

⁸David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

⁵David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

⁵4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”

³Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.

³Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.

⁴Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.

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.

²⁷I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

⁶For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”

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.

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

¹Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

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.

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.

⁷So he said to the people of Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours 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.

¹A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years,

²⁷Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

¹After the king had settled into his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him,

⁷When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.

⁴¹In the fourth year of Ahab’s reign over Israel, Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah.

⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

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

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.

⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

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.

¹¹Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God: “O Lord, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

¹²So the Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled.

³Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,

⁴but he sought the God of his father and walked by His commandments rather than the practices of Israel.

²And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

³He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles.

⁶And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

³However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

¹⁴And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

³Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

¹⁹who sets his heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of his fathers—even if he is not cleansed according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.”

⁴Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

¹Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha, saying:

²Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.

⁷Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands and becoming like the house of Jeroboam, and also because Baasha had struck down the house of Jeroboam.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, along with his ways and his words, are written in the Treatise of the Prophet Iddo.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.

¹¹Now the acts of Asa, from beginning to end, are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

⁴⁸Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

⁴⁹At that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants sail with your servants,” but Jehoshaphat refused.

²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

³But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’

²¹For the king had the ships of Tarshish that went with Hiram’s servants, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²²For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²⁶King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

²¹For the king had the ships of Tarshish that went with Hiram’s servants, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions.

¹²This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.

²Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.