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2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14 — Asa King of Judah

2Chr.14.1-16.14

¹Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the LORD his God. ²He removed the foreign altars and the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. ³He told Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁴He removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁵He built fortified cities in Judah, because the land was quiet. In those years he had no war, for the LORD had given him rest. ⁶And 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. ⁷Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, carrying large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin, carrying small shields and drawing the bow. All these were mighty men of valor. ⁸Then Zerah the Cushite came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah. ⁹So Asa went out against him, and they drew up for battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹⁰And Asa cried out to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is none besides you to help between the mighty and the powerless. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God; do not let mortal man prevail against you.” ¹¹So the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. ¹²Asa and the people with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and so many Cushites fell that none survived, for they were shattered before the LORD and before his army. And they carried away a great amount of plunder. ¹³They struck all the cities around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had come upon them. They plundered all the cities, because there was much spoil in them. ¹⁴They also struck the tents of the herdsmen and carried off sheep in abundance and camels, and they returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁵This verse's content is included in the Hebrew source text at 2Chr.14.14: they struck the tents of the herdsmen, carried off sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15

¹Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ²And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear 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.” ³For many days Israel had been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law. ⁴But when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵In those times there was no peace for the one who went out or for the one who came in, because great turmoil was upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. ⁷But you, be strong, and do not let your hands grow weak, for there is reward for your work. ⁸When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet , he took courage and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also renewed the altar of the LORD that stood before the vestibule of the LORD. ⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with the sojourners among them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. ¹⁰So they assembled in Jerusalem in the third month , in the fifteenth year of Asa's reign. ¹¹On that day they sacrificed to the LORD from the spoil they had brought: seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep. ¹²And they entered into the covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. ¹³And whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with ram's horns. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, because they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. ¹⁶Asa the king also removed Maacah his mother from being Queen Mother, because she had made an abominable image for the Asherah. Asa cut down her abominable image, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was wholly devoted all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things his father had dedicated and the things he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

Chapter 16

¹In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built up Ramah, to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³“Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. ⁶Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had built, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah. ⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.” ⁸Were not the Cushites and the Lubites a huge army, with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. ⁹For the eyes of the LORD range throughout all the earth, to show himself strong for those whose heart is wholly his. You have acted foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. ¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the prison house, because he was enraged with him over this. And at that same time Asa oppressed some of the people. ¹¹Now behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet, and his disease grew severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. ¹³And Asa slept with his fathers and died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴And they buried him in the tomb he had hewn out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on the bier that had been filled with spices and various kinds of blended perfumes, prepared as a perfumer's mixture, and they made for him a very great fire .

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4/11/2026

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