Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them.

And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods.

Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God.

But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work:

and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him.

And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.

And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers.

And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died.

And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.

And 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.

And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God;

and he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs;

and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, and to practise the law and the commandment.

And he removed out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

And Asa had an army that bore targets and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these, mighty men of valour.

And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil.

And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them.

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

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.

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

but in their trouble they turned to Jehovah the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found of them.

And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great disturbances were amongst all the inhabitants of the countries.

And nation was broken against nation, and city against city; for God disturbed them with all manner of distress.

And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities that he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah.

And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell away to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.

And they assembled themselves at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

And they sacrificed to Jehovah in that day, of the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

And they entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul,

and that whoever would not seek Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they took the oath with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them. And Jehovah gave them rest round about.

And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it in the valley Kidron.

And he brought into the house of God the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

And Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,

There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I send thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

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 it came to pass when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore has the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.

For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

And Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was enraged with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

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

And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was extremely great; yet in his disease he did not seek Jehovah, but the physicians.

And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one-and-fortieth year of his reign.

And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had excavated for himself in the city of David, and laid him in a bed filled with spices, a mixture of divers kinds prepared by the perfumer's art; and they made a very great burning for him.

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

And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baals;

but he sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

And he took courage in the ways of Jehovah; moreover, he removed the high places and Asherahs out of Judah.

And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethaneel, and Micah, to teach in the cities of Judah;

And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about through all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

And the terror of Jehovah was upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute-silver. The Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.

And he had much business in the cities of Judah; and men of war, strong and valiant, in Jerusalem.

And these are the numbers of them according to their fathers' houses. Of Judah the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valour;

and next to him, Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour.

And of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valour, and with him two hundred thousand, armed with bow and shield;

And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-Gilead? And he said to him, I am as thou, and my people as thy people; and I will be with thee in the war.

And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, this day of the word of Jehovah.

And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and God will give it into the king's hand.

But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we might inquire of him?

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, for he prophesies no good concerning me, but always evil: it is Micah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Then the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Micah the son of Imlah.

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne; and they sat in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith Jehovah: With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have exterminated them.

And the messenger that went to call Micah spoke to him saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and declare good.

And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but truth in the name of Jehovah?

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he prophesies no good concerning me, but evil?

And he said, Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left;

and Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him, and also succeed: go forth, and do so.

And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee.

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micah upon the cheek, and said, Which way now went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak to thee?

And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

and ye shall say, Thus says the king: Put this man in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.

And Micah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O peoples, all of you!

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead.

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.

And the king of Syria commanded the captains of his chariots saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but with the king of Israel only.

And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, That is the king of Israel; and they surrounded him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and Jehovah helped him; and God diverted them from him.

And it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

And a man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the fastenings and the corslet. And he said to the charioteer, Turn thy hand and drive me out of the camp; for I am wounded.

And the battle increased that day; and the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

And Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.

And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Jehovah? Therefore is wrath upon thee from Jehovah.

Nevertheless there are good things found in thee; for thou hast put away the Asherahs out of the land, and hast directed thy heart to seek God.

And Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to Jehovah the God of their fathers.

And he set judges in the land throughout the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.

And he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah, who will be with you in the matter of judgment.

And now, let the terror of Jehovah be upon you; be careful what ye do, for there is no iniquity with Jehovah, nor respect of persons, nor taking of presents.

And moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set some of the Levites And priests, And of the chief fathers of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah And for causes. And they returned to Jerusalem.

And he charged them saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah faithfully and with a perfect heart.

And what cause soever comes to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren: this do and ye shall not trespass.