2 Chronicles 14

1 When Abijah died, he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. His son Asa became the king. While Asa was ruling, there was peace in Judah for ten years.

So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days, the land was quiet ten years.

2 Asa did things that Yahweh his God considers to be right and good.

Asa did that which was good and right in the LORD his God’s eyes,

3 His workers got rid of the altars to worship foreign gods that were on the high hills. They smashed the sacred stone pillars and cut down the poles for worshiping [the goddess] Asherah.

for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles,

4 Asa commanded the people of Judah to worship [only] Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, and to obey his laws and commands.

and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command.

5 His workers destroyed all the shrines on the hilltops and the altars for burning incense [to idols] in every town in Judah. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom [of Judah].

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

6 His workers built cities and constructed walls around them. No army attacked Judah during that time, because Yahweh enabled them to have peace.

He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest.

7 Asa said to the people of Judah, “We should protect these towns by building walls around them, with watchtowers and gates that have bars. This country still belongs to us because we have requested Yahweh our God to help us. We requested him for his help, and he has given us peace in our entire country.” So they built buildings and prospered.

For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, 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.

8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah. They all carried large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin [in his army]. They carried [smaller] shields, and bows [and arrows]. They were all brave soldiers.

Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valour.

9 Zerah, a man from Ethiopia/Sudan, marched with a huge army and 300 chariots to attack [the army of Judah and Benjamin]. They went as far as [the town of] Mareshah [about 25 miles/southwest of Jerusalem].

Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

10 Asa went [with his army] to fight against them, and both armies took their positions in the Zephathah Valley.

Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

11 Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, “Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist a mighty army. Yahweh our God, help us, because we are relying on you; and trusting in you we have come [to fight] against this huge army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you.”

Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, LORD our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.”

12 Then Yahweh enabled Asa and the army of Judah to defeat the army from Ethiopia. They fled,

So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

13 and Asa and his army pursued them [to the southwest] as far as Gerar. A huge number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those [who were not killed] were unable to fight any more. They were greatly defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.

Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians fell that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his army. Judah’s army carried away very much booty.

14 The men of Judah were able to destroy the people in villages near Gerar because Yahweh had caused the people there to become terrified [and unable to fight]. The army of Judah took away all the valuable things from those villages.

They struck all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.

15 They also attacked the places where the local people who took care of domestic animals had set up their tents, and they took away big herds of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

They also struck the tents of those who had livestock, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, then returned to Jerusalem.