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2 Chronicles 20
- 1
- It came to pass after this also, that the children of
Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites,
came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
- 2
- Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying,
There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side
Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
- 3
- And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the
LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- 4
- And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of
the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
- 5
- And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and
Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
- 6
- And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in
heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine
hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
- 7
- Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the
inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed
of Abraham thy friend for ever?
- 8
- And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary
therein for thy name, saying,
- 9
- If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or
pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for
thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou
wilt hear and help.
- 10
- And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and
mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of
the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
- 11
- Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us
out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
- 12
- O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no
might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what
to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
- 13
- And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little
ones, their wives, and their children.
- 14
- Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of
Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,
came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
- 15
- And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not
afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not
yours, but God's.
- 16
- To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up
by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before
the wilderness of Jeruel.
- 17
- Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set
yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O
Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them:
for the LORD will be with you.
- 18
- And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the
ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD,
worshipping the LORD.
- 19
- And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and
of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel
with a loud voice on high.
- 20
- And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into
the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said,
Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your
God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
- 21
- And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed
singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they
went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth
for ever.
- 22
- And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set
ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were
come against Judah; and they were smitten.
- 23
- For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the
inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had
made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
- 24
- And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the
wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies
fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
- 25
- And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away
the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the
dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more
than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the
spoil, it was so much.
- 26
- And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the
valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the
same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
- 27
- Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem,
and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy;
for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
- 28
- And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and
trumpets unto the house of the LORD.
- 29
- And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those
countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of
Israel.
- 30
- So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave
him rest round about.
- 31
- And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and
five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in
Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
- 32
- And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed
not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD.
- 33
- Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet
the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.
- 34
- Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last,
behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is
mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.
- 35
- And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join
himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:
- 36
- And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to
Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongaber.
- 37
- 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.
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