2Chronicles:14-16
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So 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 .
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And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God :
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For he took away the altars of the strange gods ,
and the high places ,
and brake down the images ,
and cut down the groves :
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And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers ,
and to do the law and the commandment .
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Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images :
and the kingdom was quiet before him .
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And he built fenced cities in Judah :
for the land had rest ,
and he had no war in those years ;
because the LORD had given him rest .
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Therefore he said unto Judah ,
Let us build these cities ,
and make about them walls ,
and towers ,
gates ,
and bars ,
while the land is yet before us ;
because we have sought the LORD our God ,
we have sought him ,
and he hath given us rest on every side .
So they built and prospered .
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And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears ,
out of Judah three hundred thousand ;
and out of Benjamin ,
that bare shields and drew bows ,
two hundred and fourscore thousand :
all these were mighty men of valour .
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And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand ,
and three hundred chariots ;
and came unto Mareshah .
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Then Asa went out against him ,
and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah .
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And Asa cried unto the LORD his God ,
and said ,
LORD ,
it is nothing with thee to help ,
whether with many ,
or with them that have no power :
help us ,
O LORD our God ;
for we rest on thee ,
and in thy name we go against this multitude .
O LORD ,
thou art our God ;
let not man prevail against thee .
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So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa ,
and before Judah ;
and the Ethiopians fled .
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And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar :
and the Ethiopians were overthrown ,
that they could not recover themselves ;
for they were destroyed before the LORD ,
and before his host ;
and they carried away very much spoil .
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And they smote all the cities round about Gerar ;
for the fear of the LORD came upon them :
and they spoiled all the cities ;
for there was exceeding much spoil in them .
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They smote also the tents of cattle ,
and carried away sheep and camels in abundance ,
and returned to Jerusalem .
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And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded :
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And he went out to meet Asa ,
and said unto him ,
Hear ye me ,
Asa ,
and all Judah and Benjamin ;
The LORD is with you ,
while ye be with him ;
and if ye seek him ,
he will be found of you ;
but if ye forsake him ,
he will forsake you .
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Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God ,
and without a teaching priest ,
and without law .
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But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel ,
and sought him ,
he was found of them .
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And in those times there was no peace to him that went out ,
nor to him that came in ,
but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries .
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And nation was destroyed of nation ,
and city of city :
for God did vex them with all adversity .
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Be ye strong therefore ,
and let not your hands be weak :
for your work shall be rewarded .
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And when Asa heard these words ,
and the prophecy of Oded the prophet ,
he took courage ,
and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin ,
and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim ,
and renewed the altar of the LORD ,
that was before the porch of the LORD .
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And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin ,
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh ,
and out of Simeon :
for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance ,
when they saw that the LORD his God was with him .
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So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month ,
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa .
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And they offered unto the LORD the same time ,
of the spoil which they had brought ,
seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep .
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And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul ;
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That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death ,
whether small or great ,
whether man or woman .
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And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice ,
and with shouting ,
and with trumpets ,
and with cornets .
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And all Judah rejoiced at the oath :
for they had sworn with all their heart ,
and sought him with their whole desire ;
and he was found of them :
and the LORD gave them rest round about .
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And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king ,
he removed her from being queen ,
because she had made an idol in a grove :
and Asa cut down her idol ,
and stamped it ,
and burnt it at the brook Kidron .
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But the high places were not taken away out of Israel :
nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days .
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And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated ,
and that he himself had dedicated ,
silver ,
and gold ,
and vessels .
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And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa .
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In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah ,
and built Ramah ,
to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah .
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Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king '
s house ,
and sent to Benhadad king of Syria ,
that dwelt at Damascus ,
saying ,
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There is a league between me and thee ,
as there was between my father and thy father :
behold ,
I have sent thee silver and gold ;
go ,
break thy league with Baasha king of Israel ,
that he may depart from me .
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And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa ,
and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel ;
and they smote Ijon ,
and Dan ,
and Abelmaim ,
and all the store cities of Naphtali .
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And it came to pass ,
when Baasha heard it ,
that he left off building of Ramah ,
and let his work cease .
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Then Asa the king took all Judah ;
and they carried away the stones of Ramah ,
and the timber thereof ,
wherewith Baasha was building ;
and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah .
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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 not relied on the LORD thy God ,
therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand .
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Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host ,
with very many chariots and horsemen ?
yet ,
because thou didst rely on the LORD ,
he delivered them into thine hand .
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For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth ,
to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him .
Herein thou hast done foolishly :
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars .
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Then Asa was wroth with the seer ,
and put him in a prison house ;
for he was in a rage with him because of this thing .
And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time .
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And ,
behold ,
the acts of Asa ,
first and last ,
lo ,
they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel .
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And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet ,
until his disease was exceeding great :
yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD ,
but to the physicians .
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And Asa slept with his fathers ,
and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign .
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And they buried him in his own sepulchres ,
which he had made for himself in the city of David ,
and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries '
art :
and they made a very great burning for him .
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And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead ,
and strengthened himself against Israel .
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