But they put not the hill altars out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was pure all his life.

And Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his forces against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon and Dan and Abelmaim, and all the store-magazines of the cities of Naphtali.

And, Asa the king, took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timbers thereof, which Baasha had used in building, - and he built therewith, Geba and Mizpah.

Were not the black Moors and they of Libya a great host with exceeding many chariots and horsemen? And yet because thou trustedest in the LORD, he delivered them into thine hands.

And behold the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

and they buried him in his own stately sepulchre, which he had hewn for himself in the city of David, and laid him on a couch which was full of sweet spices - yea of various kinds, made by the perfumer's art, - and they burned for him with an exceeding great burning.

And, in the third year of his reign, he sent to his rulers, even to Ben-hail and to Obadiah and to Zechariah, and to Nethanel, and to Micaiah, - that they were to teach throughout the cities of Judah;

They were accompanied by the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah, and by the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

and they taught throughout Judah, and, with them, was the book of the law of Yahweh, - so they went round throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

And it came to pass, that, the dread of Yahweh, was upon all the kingdoms of the countries, that were round about Judah, - and they warred not against Jehoshaphat.

And, from among the Philistines, were they bringing in unto Jehoshaphat a present, and silver as tribute, - even the Arabians, were bringing in unto him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.

Here's how they were mustered, listed according to their ancestral houses and listed by commanders of thousands: Adnah commanded 300,000 elite forces.

These, were they who were waiting upon the king, - besides those whom the king placed in the fortified cities, throughout all Judah.

So the king of Israel gathered together the prophets, four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go up against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said - Go up, and may God deliver it into the hand of the king!

Now, the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, were sitting, each upon his throne, clothed in robes, and they were sitting in an open space, at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, - and, all the prophets, were prophesying before them.

Then did Zedekiah son of Chenaanah make him horns of iron, - and said - Thus, saith Yahweh, With these, shalt thou push Syria, until they are consumed.

Now, when he came unto the king, the king said unto him, Micah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up and prosper, and may they be delivered into your hand.

Micaiah replied, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, 'They have no master. They should go home in peace.'"

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and will enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle.

So it came to pass, when the chariot-captains saw Jehoshaphat, that, they, said, The king of Israel, it is. And they compassed him about, to fight, - but Jehoshaphat made outcry, and, Yahweh, helped him, yea God allured them away from him.

And so it came to pass, when the chariot-captains saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned hack from pursuing him;

And, even in Jerusalem, did Jehoshaphat station some of the Levites and the priests, and of the ancestral chiefs of Israel, to pronounce the just sentence of Yahweh, and to settle disputes, - when they returned to Jerusalem.

Any dispute that shall come in unto you from among your brethren who are dwelling in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment and statutes and regulations, then shall ye warn them, that they may not become guilty against Yahweh, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren, - Thus, shall ye act, and not incur guilt.

And there came some and told Jehoshaphat, saying, There is coming against thee, a great multitude from beyond the sea, from Syria, - and lo! they are in Hazazon-tamar, the same, is Engedi.

And Judah gathered themselves together, to enquire of Yahweh, - even, out of all the cities of Judah, came they in, to seek Yahweh.

"LORD God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven, are you not? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, don't you? In your own hands you grasp both strength and power, don't you? As a result, no one can oppose you, can they? You are our God, who expelled the former inhabitants of this land right in front of our people Israel, aren't you? Then you gave it to your friend Abraham's descendant forever, didn't you?

and they have dwelt therein, - and have built for thee therein, a sanctuary for thy Name, saying:

And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab, and those of mount Seir, amongst whom thou wouldest not let Israel go when they came out of the land of Egypt, (for they turned from them, and destroyed them not,)

behold, they reward us, in coming to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to possess.

To-morrow go down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth towards the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Jehovah your God, and ye shall be established; believe his prophets, and ye shall prosper!

And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers to Jehovah, and those that should praise in holy splendour, as they went forth before the armed men, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah; for his loving-kindness endureth for ever!

And when they began the song of triumph and praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were smitten.

And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to exterminate and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

And Judah came on to the mountain-watch in the wilderness, and they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped.

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

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah, for there they blessed Jehovah; therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Berachah, to this day.

And they returned, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

And they came to Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, to the house of Jehovah.

And the terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands, when they had heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel.

Howbeit, they put not down the hill altars, neither did the people yet prepare their hearts unto the God of their fathers.

And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.

Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set a king over themselves.

and they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was no son left him, except Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.

After about two years his intestines came out because of the disease, so that he died a very painful death. His people did not make a bonfire to honor him, as they had done for his ancestors.

He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being regretted. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

And they inhabiting Jerusalem will make Ahaziah his young son king in his stead: for a troop coming with the Arabians to the camp killed all the first. And Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah will reign.

And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah like the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

Also, in their counsel he hath walked, and goeth with Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel to battle against Hazael king of Aram, in Ramoth-Gilead, and they of Ramah smite Joram;

And he returned to be healed in Jezreel, because of the wounds wherewith they smote him in Ramah, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria, - and, Azariah son of Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because, sick, was he!

And he sought Ahaziah; and they caught him (for he had hid himself in Samaria), and brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said, He is a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart. And in the house of Ahaziah there was no one who was able to hold the kingdom.

Now in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took captains of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Johanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, and they entered into a covenant with him.

And they went about in Judah and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel; and they came to Jerusalem.

But let none come into the house of Jehovah except the priests and those of the Levites that do the service; they shall go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of Jehovah.

And the Levites shall compass the king round about, and every man his weapon in his hand: and whatsoever other man come into the house of the Lord, he shall die for it, and they shall be with the king, as he cometh in and as he goeth out."

And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go forth on the sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not liberate the divisions.

He placed the men at their posts, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king.

And they brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, Long live the king!

And she will see, and behold, the king standing upon his standing in the coming in, and the chiefs and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoicing, and they clanged upon the trumpets; and those singing with instruments of the song, and those knowing to praise. And Athaliah will rend her garments and say, A conspiracy! a conspiracy!

And they made way for her, and she went through the entrance of the horse-gate into the king's house, and they put her to death there.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah.

And all the people went into the house of Baal, and broke it down; and they broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

And Jehoiada put the oversight of the house of Yahweh into the hand of the priests and the Levites, whom David set by courses over the house of Yahweh, that they might offer up the ascending-sacrifices of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with song, - under the direction of David.

And he took the captains of the hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of Jehovah; and they came through the upper gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

For the wicked Athaliah and her sons had devastated the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of Jehovah had they employed for the Baals.

And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it at the gate of the house of Jehovah without,

and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring to Jehovah the tribute of Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had finished.

And it came to pass at the time the chest was brought for the king's control by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and high priest's officer came, and they emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.

And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of Jehovah, and also such as wrought in iron and bronze, to repair the house of Jehovah.

So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in its state, and strengthened it.

And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and they made of it vessels for the house of Jehovah, utensils to minister, and with which to offer up, and cups, and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered up burnt-offerings in the house of Jehovah continually all the days of Jehoiada.

And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house.

And after the death of Jehoiada came the chiefs of Judah, and they will Worship to the king. Then the king heard to them.

And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

And he sent prophets among them to bring them again to Jehovah, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear.

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah.

And it came to pass at the end of the year that the army of Syria came up against him; and they entered into Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king at Damascus.

Truly with a small company of men came the army of the Syrians, but Jehovah delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers; and they executed judgment upon Joash.

And when they had departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings.

And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

And as to his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the building of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

and their sons he hath not put to death, but did as is written in the law, in the book of Moses, whom Jehovah commanded, saying, 'Fathers do not die for sons, and sons die not for fathers, but each for his own sin they die.'

Then Amaziah got all Judah together and put them in order by their families, even all Judah and Benjamin, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds: and he had those of twenty years old and over numbered, and they came to three hundred thousand of the best fighting-men, trained for war and in the use of the spear and the body-cover.

Then Amaziah separated them, the troop that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again. And their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger.

And the children of Judah took ten thousand captive, alive, and brought them to the top of the cliff, and cast them down from the top of the cliff, so that they all were broken in pieces.

But those of the troop that Amaziah had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

And it came to pass, as he spake unto him, that he said to him, To be, counselor to the king, have we appointed thee? forbear thou, wherefore should they smite thee? So the prophet forbare, and said - I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into the enemy's hand, because they had sought after the gods of Edom.

And Joash king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.

And Judah was routed before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent.

And Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah the king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-Shemesh. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

And from the time that Amaziah turned aside from following Jehovah, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

And all the people will take Uzziah, and he the son of sixteen years, and they will make him king instead of his father Amaziah.

Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official.