Part 11

14:013:020 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.

14:013:021 But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

14:013:022 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

14:014:001 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

14:014:002 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:

14:014:003 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:

14:014:004 And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

14:014:005 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

14:014:006 And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest.

14:014:007 Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

14:014:008 And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour.

14:014:009 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

14:014:010 Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

14:014:011 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let no man prevail against thee.

14:014:012 So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

14:014:013 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil.

14:014:014 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them.

14:014:015 They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

14:015:001 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

14:015:002 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

14:015:003 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

14:015:004 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

14:015:005 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

14:015:006 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

14:015:007 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

14:015:008 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

14:015:009 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

14:015:010 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.