Study Desk

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's 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 went out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

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 a very large amount of plunder.

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 abandon Him, He will abandon you.

"Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.

And 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.

They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;

Moreover, they made an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and with horns.

All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.

"A treaty must be made between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me."

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 it he fortified Geba and Mizpah.

"Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He handed them over to you.

Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at the same time.

So Asa lay down with his fathers, and 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.

And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father David's earlier days and did not seek the Baals,

and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

They taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them; and they went throughout the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

This was their muster according to their fathers' households: of Judah, commanders of thousands, Adnah was the commander, and with him three hundred thousand valiant warriors;