2 Chronicles 15

1 Upon Azariah, son of Oded, came the spirit of God.
2 He went forth 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, and if you seek him he will be present to you; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
3 For a long time Israel had no true God, no priest-teacher and no law,
4 but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was present to them.
5 In that former time there was no peace for anyone to go or come, but there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands.
6 Nation crushed nation and city crushed city, for God destroyed them by every kind of adversity.
7 But as for you, be strong and do not relax, for your work shall be rewarded.
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the LORD which was before the vestibule of the LORD.
9 Then he convened all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who sojourned with them; for many had fled to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD, his God, was with him.
10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign,
11 and sacrificed to the LORD at that time seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep of the booty they had brought.
12 They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul;
13 and everyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns.
15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire, so that he was present to them. And the LORD gave them rest on every side.
16 Maacah, the mother of King Asa, he deposed as queen mother because she had made an outrageous object for Asherah; Asa cut this down, smashed it, and burnt it in the Kidron Valley.
17 Although the high places did not disappear from Israel, yet Asa's heart was undivided as long as he lived.
18 He brought into the house of God his father's votive offerings and his own: silver, gold, and various utensils.
19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

2 Chronicles 16

1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent any communication with Asa, king of Judah.
2 Asa then brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace and sent them to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, with this message:
3 There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.
4 Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa's request and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.
5 When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah; he stopped his work.
6 Then King Asa commandeered all of Judah to carry away the stone and wood with which Baasha had been fortifying Ramah, and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.
7 At 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, the army of the king of Aram has escaped your hand.
8 Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army, with great numbers of chariots and drivers? And yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your power.
9 The eyes of the LORD roam over the whole earth, to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly. You have acted foolishly in this matter, for from now on you will have wars.
10 But Asa became angry with the seer and imprisoned him in the stocks, so greatly was he enraged at him over this. Asa also oppressed some of his people at this time.
11 Now the acts of Asa, first and last, can be found recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted a serious disease in his feet. But even in his sickness he did not seek the LORD, but only the physicians.
13 Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
14 They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, having laid him upon a couch which was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment. They also burned a very great funeral pyre for him.

2 Chronicles 17

1 His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king and strengthened his hold against Israel.
2 He placed armed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which his father Asa had taken.
3 The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the ways his father had pursued in the beginning, and he did not consult the Baals.
4 Rather, he sought the God of his father and observed his commands, and not the practices of Israel.
5 As a result, the LORD made his kingdom secure, and all Judah gave Jehoshaphat gifts, so that he enjoyed great wealth and glory.
6 Thus he was encouraged to follow the LORD'S ways, and again he removed the high places and the sacred poles from Judah.
7 In the third year of his reign he sent his leading men, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.
8 With them he sent the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah and Tobijah, together with the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
9 They taught in Judah, having with them the book containing the law of the LORD; they traveled through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
10 Now the fear of the LORD was upon all the kingdoms of the countries surrounding Judah, so that they did not war against Jehoshaphat.
11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and a tribute of silver; and the Arabs also brought him a flock of seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.
12 Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built strongholds and store cities in Judah.
13 He carried out many works in the cities of Judah, and he had soldiers, valiant warriors, in Jerusalem.
14 This was their mustering according to their ancestral houses. Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him three hundred thousand valiant warriors.
15 Next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him two hundred eighty thousand.
16 Next to him, Amasiah, son of Zichri, who offered himself to the LORD, and with him two hundred thousand valiant warriors.
17 From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant warrior, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and buckler.
18 Next to him, Jozabad, and with him one hundred and eighty thousand equipped for war.
19 These were at the service of the king; in addition were those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

2 Chronicles 18

1 Jehoshaphat therefore had wealth and glory in abundance; but he became related to Ahab by marriage.
2 After some years he went down to Ahab at Samaria; Ahab offered numerous sheep and oxen for him and the people with him, and persuaded him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.
3 Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Will you come with me to Ramoth-gilead? You and I are as one, was his answer; your people and my people as well. We will be with you in the battle.
4 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, Seek the word of the LORD at once.
5 The king of Israel gathered his prophets, four hundred in number, and asked them, Shall we go to attack Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain? Go up, they answered. God will deliver it over to the king.
6 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the LORD here whom we may consult?
7 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, There is still another through whom we may consult the LORD, but I hate him, for he prophesies not good but always evil about me. That is Micaiah, son of Imlah. Jeshoshaphat said, Let not your Majesty speak of evil against you.
8 So the king of Israel called an official, to whom he said, Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once.
9 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were seated each on his throne, clothed in their robes of state on a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
10 Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made iron horns for himself and said: The LORD says, 'With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.'
11 The other prophets prophesied in the same vein, saying: Go up to Ramoth-gilead. You shall succeed; the LORD will deliver it over to the king.
12 The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him: Look now, the prophets unanimously predict good for the king. Let your word, like each of theirs, predict good.
13 As the LORD lives, Micaiah answered, I will say what my God tells me.
14 When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to fight against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain? Go up, he answered, and succeed; they will be delivered into your power.
15 But the king said to him, How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?
16 Then Micaiah answered: I see all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD saying, 'These have no master!' Let each of them go back home in peace.'
17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he prophesies no good about me, but only evil?
18 But Micaiah continued: Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD seated on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing by to his right and to his left.
19 The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab, king of Israel, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said this, another that,
20 until a spirit came forward and presented himself to the LORD, saying, 'I will deceive him.' The LORD asked, 'How?'
21 He answered, 'I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' The LORD agreed: 'You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this.'
22 So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these your prophets, but the LORD himself has decreed evil against you.
23 Thereupon Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, came up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, saying, Which way did the spirit of the LORD go when he left me to speak to you?
24 You shall find out, Micaiah replied, on that day when you enter an innermost chamber to hide.
25 The king of Israel then said: Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, prefect of the city, and to Joash the king's son,
26 and say, 'This is the king's order: Put this man in prison and feed him scanty rations of bread and water until I return in safety!'
27 But Micaiah said, If ever you return in safety, the LORD has not spoken through me. And he said, Hear, O peoples, all of you!
28 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead
29 and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will go into battle disguised, but you put on your own clothes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the fray.
30 Meanwhile, the king of Aram had given his chariot commanders the order, Fight with no one, small or great, except the king of Israel.
31 When the commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they exclaimed, That must be the king of Israel! and shifted to fight him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and the LORD helped him; God induced them to leave him.
32 The chariot commanders became aware that he was not the king of Israel and gave up their pursuit of him.
33 Someone, however, drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his breastplate. He ordered his charioteer, Rein about and take me out of the ranks, for I am disabled.
34 The battle grew fierce during the day, and the king of Israel braced himself up on his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. He died as the sun was setting.