Second Book of Chronicles 20

¹ After this the Moabites and Ammonites, with some of the Meunites[*a] started to make war on Jehoshaphat.

² Jehoshaphat received the following intelligence, ‘A vast horde is advancing against you from Edom, from the other side of the sea; they are already at Hazazon-tamar, that is, En-gedi’.

³ Jehoshaphat was alarmed and resolved to have recourse to Yahweh; he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

⁴ Judah assembled to seek help from Yahweh; they came seeking Yahweh from every single town in Judah.

⁵ At this assembly of the people of Judah and Jerusalem in the Temple of Yahweh, Jehoshaphat stood before the new court

⁶ and said, ‘Yahweh, God of our ancestors, are you not the God who dwells in the heavens? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Such power and might are in your hands that no one can resist you.

⁷ Are you not our God, you who have dispossessed the inhabitants of this land for Israel your people, and given it to the descendants of Abraham whom you will love for ever?

⁸ They have settled in it and built a sanctuary there for your name,

⁹ saying, “Should calamity befall us, or war, punishment, pestilence, or famine, then we shall stand before this Temple and before you, for your name is in this Temple. From the depths of our distress we shall cry to you, and you will hear and save us.”

¹⁰ ‘Here now are the Ammonites and Moab and the mountain folk of Seir; when Israel came out of the land of Egypt you would not let Israel invade them; instead, Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them;

¹¹ and this is how they reward us, by coming to drive us out of the possessions you have given us as our inheritance.

¹² Will you our God not execute judgement on them, since we are helpless against this vast horde attacking us? We ourselves do not know what to do; we look to you.’

¹³ All the men of Judah, even down to their youngest children and their wives, stood in the presence of Yahweh.

¹⁴ In the middle of the assembly the spirit of Yahweh came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, one of the sons of Asaph.

¹⁵ ‘Listen all you men of Judah,’ he cried ‘and you who live in Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Yahweh says this to you, “Do not be afraid, do not be daunted by this vast horde; this battle is not yours but God’s.

¹⁶ March out against them tomorrow; they are coming up by the Slope of Ziz and you will come on them in the Valley of Soph, near the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷ You will not need to fight here. Take up your position, stand firm, and see what salvation Yahweh has in store for you. Judah and Jerusalem, be fearless, be dauntless; march out against them tomorrow and Yahweh will be with you.”‘

¹⁸ Jehoshaphat bent his head, his face to the ground, and all Judah with those who lived in Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshipping him.

¹⁹ Then the Levites – Kohathites and Korahites – began praising Yahweh the God of Israel at the tops of their voices.

²⁰ They rose early in the morning and left for the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were setting out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Listen to me Judah and all who live in Jerusalem! Have faith in Yahweh your God and you will be secure; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.’

²¹ Then, having held a conference with the people, he set the cantors of Yahweh in sacred vestments at the head of the army, to sing praises to him. ‘Give praise to Yahweh,’ they sang ‘for his love is everlasting.’

²² As they began to sing their joy and their praise, Yahweh laid an ambush for the Ammonites and Moab and the mountain folk of Seir who had come to attack Judah, and routed them.

²³ The Ammonites and Moabites turned on the mountain folk of Seir to inflict the ban on them and destroy them altogether, but they only helped each other to their own undoing.

²⁴ When the men of Judah reached the spot that looks out on the wilderness and turned to face the horde, they found only corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

²⁵ Jehoshaphat came with his troops to plunder them, and found quantities of cattle, goods, clothing and valuables; they collected more than they could take away; the booty was so plentiful they were three days gathering it.

²⁶ On the fourth day they mustered in the Valley of Beracah; and there they did indeed bless Yahweh,[*b] hence the name of the Valley of Beracah by which the place is still called today.

²⁷ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin, with Jehoshaphat at their head, went back joyfully to Jerusalem, for Yahweh had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies.

²⁸ To the music of harp and lyre and trumpet they came to Jerusalem and to the Temple of Yahweh,

²⁹ and the Terror of God came on all the kingdoms of foreign countries when they came to hear how Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel.

³⁰ The kingdom of Jehoshaphat was calm, his God granting him peace on all his frontiers.

³¹ Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.

³² He followed the example of his father Asa undeviatingly, doing what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

³³ The high places, however, were not abolished; the people had still not turned their hearts to the God of their ancestors.

³⁴ The rest of the history of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, is recorded in the Annals of Jehu son of Hanani which have been transcribed into the Book of the Kings of Israel.

³⁵ After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who led him into evil ways.

³⁶ He combined with him to build ships that would sail to Tarshish; they built them at Ezion-geber.

³⁷ Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah then made a prophecy against Jehoshaphat. ‘Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah,’ he said ‘Yahweh has broken your work.’ The ships broke up and were never fit to sail for Tarshish.