2 Chronicles 14

King Asa Brings Reform & Gets a Big Win

1 Abijah passed away and they buried him in the City of David. And his son Asa took over as king. In his days, the land was chill for ten years.

2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

3 He got rid of the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles.

4 He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to keep His Law and His commands.

5 He also got rid of the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was chill under him.

6 He built up fortified cities in Judah, because the land was chill, and he had no war in those years, because the Lord gave him rest.

7 He told Judah, “Let us build up these cities and put walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars, while the land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God. We sought Him, and He gave us rest all around.” So they built and were successful.

8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah who carried large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin who carried small shields and were archers. All these were mighty, strong men.

9 Now, Zerah the Cushite rolled up against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came all the way to Mareshah.

10 Asa went out to meet him, and they lined up for battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

11 Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “Lord, no one but You can help the powerful or the powerless. Help us, Lord our God, because we leaning on You, and in Your Name we came against this huge crowd! Lord, You are our God; do not let any human beat You!”

12 So the Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites bolted.

13 Asa and the army with him chased them all the way to Gerar. And so many Cushites dropped, they could not even rally. They were completely shattered before the Lord and His army. And Judah carried away a huge amount of loot.

14 They hit all the cities around Gerar, because the fear of the Lord was on them. They plundered all the cities, because there was a ton of loot in them.

15 They also hit the tents of the herders and carried away a lot of sheep and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.