Study Desk

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD to you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not yours, but God's.

Ye shall not [need] to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them: for the LORD [will be] with you.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy [them]: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering the spoil, it was so much.

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place hath been called, The valley of Berachah, to this day.

Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest on all sides.

But the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts to the God of their fathers.

And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab for a wife: and he wrought [that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.

And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of severe diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.

Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counselors, after the death of his father, to his destruction.

And the destruction of Ahaziah was from God by coming to Joram: for when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he [is] the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to retain the kingdom.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bed chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they [are] holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go [out] on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses.