Study Desk

Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God. And he said, "O Yahweh, there is none with you to help between the great and the powerless. Help us, O Yahweh our God, for we rely upon you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, you are our God! Let no man prevail against you!"

Then Asa and the army with him pursued them to Gerar. And many from the Cushites fell, for they had no deliverance, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before his army. And they carried away much war booty.

And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them, from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was fully devoted all his days.

And he brought the holy objects of his father and his own holy objects into the house of God—silver and gold and vessels.

And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent commanders of his troops that were with him against the cities of Israel. And they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

And it happened that when Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work.

And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, he fell severely ill in his feet. But even in his illness he did not seek Yahweh, but only among the healers.

And Asa slept with his ancestors. And he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made by the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.

And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel.

And he put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken.

And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of David his father and did not seek after the Baals,

but he sought after the God of his ancestors and walked in his commandments and not according to the works of Israel.

So Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah gave tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had much wealth and honor.

And his heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh. Moreover, he removed the high places and the Asherahs from Judah.

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 at his side, Jehohanan the commander, and with him were two hundred and eighty thousand;

and at his side, Amasiah the son of Zicri, who had made a freewill offering to Yahweh, and with him were two hundred thousand mighty armed warriors.