Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.
So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.
Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God,
for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim,
and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment.
He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.
He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because the LORD had given him rest.
For he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates 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.
Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah.
So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”
So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and before His army. And they carried away very much plunder.
They destroyed all the cities around Gerar, for the dread of the LORD had fallen on them; and they despoiled all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.
Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded,
and 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. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.
But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.
In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.
Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD which was in front of the porch of the LORD.
He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.
They sacrificed to the LORD that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought.
They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;
and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.
Moreover, they made an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets and with horns.
All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.
He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah, and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron.
But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days.
He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver and gold and utensils.
And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,
So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all the store cities of Naphtali.
Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”
Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
Now, the acts of Asa from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.
So Asa slept with his fathers, having died in the forty-first year of his reign.
They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.
He placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had captured.
The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father David’s earlier days and did not seek the Baals,
but sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did.
So the LORD established the kingdom in his control, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.
He took great pride in the ways of the LORD and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.
Then in the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;
and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.
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